FARGO, N.D. – After a rocky start, the South Dakota State women put their foot on the pedal in the final three quarters and blew out North Dakota State, 82-54, on Saturday afternoon.
The Jackrabbits (20-5, 13-0) fell behind 11-2 and trailed 23-18 at the end of the first quarter. The Bison (14-8, 8-4) would score the first basket of the second quarter and that would be their only field goal of the quarter. SDSU went on an 18-1 run in the final 7:52 of the first half and took a 36-26 lead into the locker room.
The Jacks kept up the stingy defense in the third quarter as they outscored the Bison 28-13 and led 64-39 going into the fourth. SDSU’s largest lead of the game came with 1:10 left when led by 30 points.
NDSU was 5-for-27 from the field in the middle two quarters and went 2-for-9 from three in those two quarter. The Jacks held the Bison to 35.4% shooting for the day and they were 8-for-17 from three.
SDSU shot 51% from the field and was 5-for-12 from three. The Jacks did a lot of their damage at the free throw line as they were 27-for-32 at the charity stripe.
Haleigh Timmer led SDSU with 16 points and two steals. Myah Selland had 15 points, five rebounds and four steals. Selland surpassed 2,000 career points in the win and is the second player in SDSU history to achieve that, joining Macy Miller.
Paige Meyer had 15 points. Tori Nelson had 12 points and Brooklyn Meyer had 11 points.
The bison were led by Elle Evans who had 11 points. Abby Schulte had nine points. Heaven Hamling, Taylor Brown and Emily Behnke each had eight points.
SDSU had 19 turnovers and NDSU had 23. The Jacks had 38 points in the paint and the Bison had 18. SDSU won the rebound battle 36-23.
The Jacks can now clinch a share of the Summit League regular season title with one more win and can clinch the outright title with two wins. SDSU will travel down to Vermillion next Saturday to take on South Dakota at 1 p.m. The Jacks beat the Coyotes 118-59 in the first meeting in Brookings on Jan. 14.
