BROOKINGS South Dakota States two tallest players led the Jackrabbits to their 14th-straight win on Saturday afternoon as SDSU beat Omaha 79-57.
Junior forward Mesa Byom scored a career-high 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and sophomore forward Brooklyn Meyer had 22 points, eight boards and five assists.
Byom was forced into the starting lineup four games ago after Madysen Vlastuin went down with a season-ending injury. She played most of the season as the backup center and said switching from playing center to power forward was a little bit of adjustment but she just needed to play with confidence.
It feels good [to score like that], Byom said. In the beginning of the year I was playing more of a five position and down low, but [head coach Aaron Johnston] has been talking to me about how playing on the perimeter is part of my game. I just needed to get more comfortable and confident.
Brooklyn Meyer said its been a lot of fun sharing the court with another player whos 6-foot-2, just like herself.
I love playing with Mesa. Im so excited that we get to play with each other a lot. Im obviously sad about [Vlastuin] going down, but this is one of the silver linings with that. Its just great to see Mesa and everybody step up and get more comfortable. I felt like today was really a team win, Brooklyn Meyer said.
Byom averaged just 4.6 minutes per game in her first three seasons at SDSU and is now playing just under 18 minutes a game. SDSU head coach Aaron Johnston said its great to see her flourish in her new role.
Thats fun. Its exciting to see her do well. Weve had so many of those stories this year with someone taking steps forward. You have to have ability and talent, and this is true with everybody, not just Mesa, but certainly includes Mesa, but you also have to have an opportunity. Not every opportunity comes when you want it or how you want it, and you have to make the most of it. Mesa has been working hard for years to have this opportunity and I think shes making the most of it, Johnston said.
It took a little while for the Jacks (20-5, 12-0) to pull away on Saturday. They led 18-10 with 1:51 to play in the first quarter but the Mavericks (6-20, 2-11) went on a 7-0 run to close the quarter and trailed 18-17 heading into the second.
SDSU led 20-19 a little over a minute into the second quarter and went on a 12-4 run to go up nine with 4:27 left in the half. The Mavericks outscored SDSU by two the rest of the half and the Jacks led 38-31 at halftime.
Brooklyn Meyer scored six-straight points coming out of halftime to push the lead to 44-31. SDSU then went on a 10-0 run to go up 20 and led 59-40 at the end of the third quarter. The Jacks led 67-52 with 5:34 left and went on another 10-0 run to put the game out of reach.
The Jacks shot 52.6% from the field and were 4-of-16 from three. Their biggest advantage came on the glass and in the paint. SDSU outrebounded Omaha 41-27 and the Jacks had 48 points in the paint and the Mavericks had 16.
Brooklyn Meyer said they felt like it was a mismatch down low.
We had a size advantage all around. I felt like they were really packing it in and doubling, but I still felt like we were finding the open man. The kick outs were there when needed, Brooklyn Meyer said.
Madison Mathiowetz also had a double-double for SDSU as she had 12 points and 11 rebounds. Tori Nelson and Paige Meyer each had eight points. Nelson also had five assists.
The SDSU defense held Omaha to 33.3% shooting and the Mavericks were 6-of-21 from three. Johnston said the coaching staff was a bit worried about playing Byom and Brroklyn Meyer together because they didnt know if either of them could handle guarding on the perimeter, but so far the Jacks have been stellar on the defensive end with that lineup.
[Defense] was not a hesitation, but a concern in playing them together a lot throughout the year was can one of them play on the perimeter defensively because there are some teams that are almost all guards. Mesa is quick enough and athletic enough, as Brooklyn is, that we can still switch ball screens and do some of that. Were pretty lucky that theyre dynamic enough to do a lot on offense and defense, Johnston said.
Grace Cave led Omaha with 25 points and six steals. Morgann Gardner had nine points and Lucy Ghaifan had eight points.
This was SDSUs 43rd-straight win over Summit League opponents and the Jackrabbits have lost one game in conference play over the past four seasons. Byom said SDSU doesnt think at all about either the conference winning streak or their overall win streak.
We try not to think about the record and take it game by game. We just want to play the best we can each day and for each other. I think [the winning streaks] attest to all of our personalities. We all want the best for each other and want to play the best we can. Obviously we play the best as a team when we want that for each other. So, we dont look at it as oh, were better than them, but doing it for each other, Byom said.
SDSU will hit the road again next. It will be the final road trip of the season for the Jacks as there are just four games left in the regular season. SDSU plays at Denver on Thursday at 7 p.m. and that game will be broadcasted on the Summit League Network. The Jacks will then travel to St. Paul to take on St. Thomas on Saturday at 1 p.m. and you can watch that game on SLN as well.
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