DENVER A big second half from the South Dakota State women led the Jackrabbits to a 79-42 victory over Denver on Saturday afternoon.
Denver had a 12-11 advantage in the first quarter. The Jacks then outscored the Pioneers 20-10 in both the second and third quarter and led 51-32 heading into the fourth. Thats when SDSU really blew things open as the Jacks outscored the Pioneers 28-10 in the final frame.
SDSU shot 61.2% from the field and was 10-of-21 from three. The Jacks assisted on 17 of their 30 field goals and head coach Aaron Johnston said ball movement played a big part in SDSUs offensive success on Saturday afternoon.
They werent easy [shots], but they were open shots, and that comes from ball movement. It just does. Not settling for a difficult shot. The ones we missed were probably harder ones. They were challenged twos at the rim. The ones we made were because of ball movement. It really was a team mentality out there, Johnston said.
Brooklyn Meyer was a perfect 9-of-9 from the field and led SDSU with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Madison Mathiowetz had 20 points and eight rebounds. Haleigh Timmer had 13 points.
Denver shot 28% from the field and was 7-of-28 from beyond the arc. The Jacks held Jordan Jones, who was averaging 20.5 points per game, to 13 points on 5-of-17 shooting. Johnston said he thought his forwards did a good job of defending Jones.
I thought we defended her really well. Mesa [Byom] and Kallie [Theisen] are both good defensive players, so its not a surprise. [Jones] is so strong and physical and gets to the basket, so we had to put some strength on her and both Mesa and Kallie were [great], Johnston said.
SDSU had a 41-17 advantage in rebounds. Johnston said the performance on the glass was big and it led to a type of win that his team needed.
That was great to see that effort there. It was a collective effort too, so it wasnt just one person. It was good to see. We havent won by 30 out here in a long time and have had a lot of dog fights and had to play well. So, after we got going after that first quarter and into the second quarter, we played really well, Johnston said.
The Jacks had 16 turnovers and the Pioneers had 11. SDSU was 9-of-11 at the free throw line and Denver was 7-of-11.
SDSU improved to 12-3 overall and 2-0 in the Summit League. The Jacks host Omaha on Thursday at 7 p.m. You can watch that game on the Summit League Network.
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