Andrew Holtan | The Brookings Register
SIOUX FALLS – The South Dakota State women won their fourth-straight Summit League Tournament title on Sunday afternoon as the Jackrabbits beat North Dakota State 64-51 at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center.
“Congratulations to our team and what they achieved,” said SDSU head coach Aaron Johnston. “Really happy for our seniors. I just think it’s remarkable what they’ve accomplished in their careers, [winning the conference tournament every year]. I don’t know where things rank and how they fit into a bigger picture of things, but for these three women to go through their careers and only lose two games, really, in the Summit League, regular season, postseason, it’s just remarkable.”
The No. 2 seeded Jackrabbits pulled away from the top-seeded Bison as they outscored them 20-10 in the fourth quarter and went on an 8-0 run to end the game.
SDSU led 44-41 entering the fourth quarter. It was then 48-45 with 6:25 to go and Brooklyn Meyer made two free throws and Madison Mathiowetz followed with a jumper to push the lead to 52-45 with just over four minutes to go.
NDSU’s Avery Koenen knocked down two free throws and then Meyer got an offensive rebound on the other end and put it back up and in to make it 54-47. Karrington Asp then made a layup and Meyer made two free throws
Asp made another lay up and was fouled but missed the free throw short and it went out of bounds off the Jacks. Mathiowetz then stole the ensuing inbounds and SDSU never allowed the Bison to score again as the Jacks knocked down eight free throws in the final 49 seconds.
Johnston said Mathiowetz’s steal was one of the most important plays of the game.
“One of the biggest plays of the game was Maddie’s steal on defense. You know, we had just given up, I think, the offensive rebound on a free throw. They had a chance to cut into [the lead], and Maddie just made a play. You know, she saw it. She knew it was coming. They had called it. Maddie was aware of it and goes and gets that steal. One of the huge moments. When you mentioned poise, that’s what that is,” Johnston said.
Mathiowetz only had six points in the game but four of them came in the final four minutes. She said she just wanted to get the win and thought her teammates followed suit with some hustle plays throughout the game.
“[I was] just doing whatever I needed to and our team needed us to do to get the win tonight. I think that throughout the whole game, we had so many people step up and make big plays. That was just so fun to see, and that’s how you win big games like this. I thought everybody did a really good job of that,” Mathiowetz said.
Meyer had a game-high 26 points and grabbed nine rebounds and blocked four shots. Koenen was named the Summit League Player of the Year earlier this week and she had 12 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists.
Meyer was named the Tournament MVP after averaging 25.3 points and nine rebounds in three games. During the first game of the tournament on Thursday she became the third Jackrabbit to surpass the 2,000 career points and she also set the record for points in a single season at SDSU.
This was her first Summit League Tournament MVP and she won the Summit League Player of the Year in 2024. She is now sixth in Summit League history and third in SDSU history in career points with 2,068.
Johnston said what she’s done in her career is something that is historic, especially what she’s done in her past three seasons.
“I don’t know that I’ve seen another player put together three years in our league [like she has]. That was a remarkable run by Brooklyn and what she’s done for our program and what she’s done probably for our league in terms of exposure and awareness. I’m not sure I’ve seen another player do that. So I’m really proud of her. I think a lot of people are, and she carries a pretty big load out there,” Johnston said.
North Dakota State only led for one minute and 38 seconds in the game.
The two teams traded baskets in the first four minutes of the game and then Meyer scored eight-straight points for the Jacks and Emilee Fox hit a jumper to make it 16-12 with just over two minutes to go in the first quarter. Then either team scored the rest of the quarter.
NDSU scored the first basket of the second quarter and the Jacks responded with an 11-3 run to go up 27-18 with 3:17 to go in the first half. It was then 31-24 and NDSU’s Marisa Frost hit a three at the buzzer to cut the SDSU lead to four going into halftime.
NDSU began the third with a 9-3 run and took a 36-34 lead at the midway point of the quarter. The Jacks then went on an 8-0 run with Meyer on the bench and went up 42-36 with 2:38 left in the third.
Johnston took a timeout when NDSU took the lead in the third quarter and Mathiowetz said that he told her and her teammates that it was time to go and make plays.
“Coach called the timeout and said, now is the time to change it. I think everybody responded really well to that push, and we really needed just that extra motivation to get down what we needed to get down. I thought the team responded really well and made some big plays down the stretch after that,” Mathiowetz said.
Senior guard Ellie Colbeck made three free throws during that 8-0 third-quarter run. She finished with eight points and all of them came in the second half.
Johnston said it was special for Colbeck to have that big second half in the championship because she’s a player that has had to sacrifice playing time due to the talent on the roster.
“When you’ve had a little bit of a different role throughout Ellie’s career, to be able to go in there on that stage and make those plays is impressive, really impressive. But I’m thinking more about the memory part of it. … She, her family, people in her life that watch that will reflect on that for a long time. That’s really cool,” Johnston said.
Hadley Thul had 10 points and seven rebounds for the Jacks. Hilary Behrens and Emilee Fox each had seven points.
SDSU has now won 10-straight games and will go into the NCAA Tournament with an overall record of 27-6. It will be the 14th time that the Jacks have been to the Big Dance and the seventh time in the past nine seasons.
The Jacks will find out where they will be heading on March 15. The selection show is slated for 7 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN.
Leave a Reply