By Barry Poe | For The Brookings Register
BROOKINGS — The South Dakota State women’s basketball team drew a No. 11 seed and will take on Washington in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on March 20 in Fort Worth, Texas.
The tip off time is yet to be announced. The game will be played at TCU’s Schollmaier Arena.
The Jackrabbits (27-6) earned their 14th trip to the NCAA Tournament in 18 seasons of postseason eligibility by winning their fourth straight Summit League tournament title.
Washington (21-10) was an at-large selection after losing to UCLA, 76-60, in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament.
South Dakota State was seeded second in the Summit League Tournament, but beat No. 1 seed North Dakota State, 64-51, in the championship game.
Brooklyn Meyer, a 6-2 senior from Larchwood, Iowa (West Lyon High School), earned championship MVP honors after finishing with a game-high 26 points to go with nine rebounds and four blocks.
Meyer and Madison Mathiowetz were each named to the All-Summit League first team.
Meyer averaged 22.4 points while shooting a blistering 68% from the floor in conference action, both league highs. The senior also tallied 8.6 rebounds (ranked third), 3.0 assists (sixth) and 1.6 blocks (second) per contest. Meyer scored at least 20 points in eight conference games, including three games above 30 points. She scored a career-high 44 points at Oral Roberts on Feb. 19, the new program record for SDSU and highest scoring output by a Summit League player this season. Meyer is a three-time first-team pick and three-time all-defense honoree in her Jackrabbit career.
Mathiowetz, a 5-10 senior from Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, landed on the Summit League first team for the first time in her career. She averaged 14.6 points and 1.4 steals per game during the Summit season while shooting .465 from the floor and .373 from the 3-point line. Mathiowetz finished the conference season ranking seventh in scoring and sixth in field goal percentage. She scored at least 10 points in 14 conference matchups, including four games with at least 20 points.
Emilee Fox was an honorable mention honoree, while Hadley Thul was named to the Summit League Freshman Team.
Fox, a sophomore from Mount Vernon, led the Summit League in 3-point shooting, shooting .493 from behind the arc in league action, and ranks first in the country in overall 3-point percentage at .500. She scored a career-high 26 points with 7-of-9 3-point shooting against Kansas City on Feb. 14.
The Jacks finished second in the Summit League regular season race at 14-2 and beat Kansas City, South Dakota and North Dakota State in the league tournament.
Washington’s Sayvia Sellers was a unanimous first-team All-Big Ten Conference selection, as selected by the coaches. The media named Sellers to the second team. Sellers averaged 19.3 points per game on an impressive .471/.336/.842 shooting split in conference play.
Avery Howell was All-Big Ten honorable mention, while Brynn McGaughy made the All-Freshman Team.
Howell has had an impressive sophomore season with Washington and has nearly averaged a double-double in conference play. She finished the Big Ten regular season with 14.2 points and 9.2 rebounds per game while recording a 50.5% field goal percentage in league play.
Leave a Reply