BROOKINGS The South Dakota State women are closing in on going undefeated in the Summit League for the third-straight season as the Jackrabbits just need to beat Denver and St. Thomas to do so.
The Jacks will host both teams this week, with the Pioneers coming to Brookings on Thursday at 7 p.m. and the Tommies on Saturday at 2 p.m.
SDSU in total has won 61-straight games against Summit League opponents. This year the Jacks have had some of their closer games during that streak, but they are still outscoring teams by an average of 18.4 points per game.
So, what is SDSU head coach Aaron Johnston looking to see from his team in these final two regular season games? More consistency.
I just think at times were a little bit inconsistent, both offensively and defensively, Johnston said. Not bad or necessarily need to get better, youre always trying to get better, but just more consistent. Theres been a couple of breakdowns here and there and its about how can we clean those up and be consistent. Youve seen that in some quarters, where maybe we havent been as sharp as weve needed to be and thats led to some deficits or some leads that weve given up.
We dont need to be elite and make every shot and every play, but be a little bit more consistent. Its one thing that weve tried to practice and talk about, and I think our team understands that and is ready to take those steps and be a little bit better there.
One of the more consistent things of late has been the play of SDSU senior point guard Paige Meyer. Over her past four games she is averaging 15.5 points, 6.5 assists and 5.2 rebounds per game, while having just nine turnovers.
Johnston said Paige Meyer has been great offensively, but hes seeing her take over on both ends of the floor and that has led to a lot of success, not only for her, but her teammates too.
I think Paige has been unbelievably good. As a point guard, she is just controlling everything that is going on the floor offensively, and sometimes defensively, with her pressure, getting into a passing lane, getting a big steal, taking charges, just being in the right spot. Youre really seeing her have a lot to do with our success on both ends of the floor. Theres a lot of guards that want to do one or the other, but very few can be elite on both sides of the ball, Johnston said.
Junior center Brooklyn Meyer has been consistently the best player on the Jacks all season long. Shes coming off of a career-high 34 points in Saturdays win against Kansas City. She leads the team in scoring at 17.6 points per game, despite seeing different defensive coverages every game. Johnston complimented the way Brooklyn Meyer still finds ways to impact the game even when teams completely try to take her away.
I just think Brooklyn is the most dominant player in our conference, Johnston said. She impacts the game whether she scores or whether she doesnt. Theres just so few players that do that. Some players really impact the game when theyre defensively blocking shots or getting rebounds. Some players impact the game because theyre such good passers or good scorers. Very few players can impact the game in all of those ways, the way Brooklyn does, but also when she doesnt even have the ball.
There are teams that just try to take her away completely and put two people on her before she even catches it, and that makes it hard to get her touches. But we have a lot of talent around her and she understands that when it happens. It would be easy to get frustrated and start to press, but she just doesnt. Then you get the other extreme where teams are going to play her one-on-one and take other players away. In those games shes got the ability to go out there and score points and help us win those games. Shes seen it all this year.
Paige Meyer will be one of four seniors that will be honored on Saturday as it will be the final game of their career in Brookings. The other three include Kallie Theisen, Madysen Vlastuin and Mesa Byom. Johnston saidits always a special week for him and he is looking forward to celebrating their careers on Saturday.
I really appreciate and value our senior weeks here. I just think its a great time to honor those that have given so much to our program. Kallie has given six years to SDSU womens basketball. Paige four, Madysen and Mesa each five. Theyve given large chunks of their life to this point to SDSU womens basketball. Even longer when you look at the recruiting process and when that time starts. Each of those young women have given everything they have as a student-athlete to be great in the classroom, great on the court and great in the community. They are fantastic Jackrabbits, Johnston said.
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