BROOKINGS The South Dakota State women pulled away from Wisconsin in the second half on Wednesday night at First Bank & Trust Arena and came away with a 79-57 victory over the Badgers.
SDSU outscored Wisconsin 43-27 in the second half and head coach Aaron Johnston said he thought it was an all-around performance from his team, who improved to 3-0.
That was a good win for us, Johnston said. I thought we played really well. To be honest, I thought we left a few buckets out there too. I thought we executed pretty well. We turned it over a bit in the first half and I just thought their pressure gave us a little trouble there. But I thought we executed and had a lot of good looks and defensively, I thought we played well.
The Jacks trailed 6-4 two and a half minutes into the game but then went on a 13-0 run to go up 11 with just over three minutes to play in the first quarter. SDSU was then held scoreless the rest of the quarter and led 17-13 going into the second.
SDSU got its groove back at the beginning of the second quarter as the Jacks opened the second with an 8-0 run to push the lead to 25-13. However, just like in the first quarter Wisconsin finished the first half strong and cut the lead to 36-30 at halftime.
The cycle continued to start the third as the Jacks went on a 9-2 run to start the second half. But this time that 12-point lead stuck as SDSU led 59-47 heading into the fourth. The Jacks then went on an 11-4 run to begin the fourth and that put the game out of reach.
SDSUs biggest advantage came on the glass as the Jacks outrebounded the Badgers 42-22. Johnston said it was just a matter of time before his team started rebounding well.
Early in the year we didnt rebound well, and you could see it in practice and probably in our first game and scrimmage that we had, Johnston said. Weve really tried to emphasize it, but Im talking about Mesa [Byom], Kallie [Theisen] and Brooklyn [Meyer] and they know and it was just a matter of that flip switching.
This is an experienced team and they know they know the importance of [rebounding]. Id like to say were just emphasizing it more, but they know the importance of it and tonight it really clicked.
The Jacks also did damage in the paint as they had 40 points down low. The Jackrabbit bigs in Brooklyn Meyer, Mesa Byom and Kallie Theisen combined for 33 points and 15 rebounds. That was while they were going up against the reigning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year in Serah Williams.
Johnston said the Jacks have a lot more players to throw at teams in the post compared to past seasons.
The depth with our size has really been good for us. Kallie, Brooklyn and Mesa, sometimes weve had a player like that, but not three players like that, and then youre able to play Katie [Vasecka] some at that four spot. So, we do have a lot of length and a lot of depth. Sometimes we havent always had that, Johnston said.
Byom, Brooklyn Meyer and Haleigh Timmer led the Jacks with 13 points each. Byom is the only player from Wisconsin on SDSU and she said it was fun to beat her home states school.
Being from Wisconsin, this game was really cool for me. I grew up a Badger fan and always wanted to go there growing up, so to be able to play against them was really cool. They were a really physical team and it was a really good win for us, Byom said.
It was the second-straight game that she scored in double figures and Johnston said a lot of Byoms success, both at the beginning of this year and the end of last year, comes from having more confidence and having a bigger role because of that confidence.
Her confidence has grown. Shes hit some big threes for us this year. Tonight she had a big one and there wasnt any hesitation there. Last year there might have been some thoughts [before she shot]. She had some rebounds today where she just went up and got it above everybody. So, its the right idea of talent, which she has, but then also getting some opportunity and gaining confidence with those opportunities. Now, shes in a really comfortable place and knows what shes capable of doing, Johnston said.
Paige Meyer had 11 points and six assists and Vasecka had 10 points and five rebounds. Theisen and Madison Mathiowetz each had seven points.
Wisconsin was led by Williams who had 19 points and nine rebounds. Ronnie Porter, who came into the game averaging 22.5 points per game, scored 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting.
Johnston credited Paige Meyers defense for slowing down Porter.
Paige is a good defensive player. She probably doesnt get as much credit as she deserves. She just moves her feet and as explosive as she is on offense, she is that way on defense. Shes good at getting through ball screens, which [Wisconsin] was using a lot of. She just did a nice job on [Porter] and kept her in front of her, Johnston said.
SDSU will continue its stretch of five-straight power-five teams on Sunday when it welcomes No. 16 ranked Duke to First Bank & Trust Arena. The Jacks beat No. 21 Creighton this past weekend and Johnston said the Blue Devils will bring a lot of talent to Brookings.
Dukes really good. If you take every team that weve played against in the first three games and the best thing that each one of those teams does, Duke does all of that plus a little bit more. Theyre long, theyre athletic, they defend like crazy, they execute really well on offense. Its going to be a really good game for us and Im so happy to have them come to town, Johnston said.
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