BLACKSBURG, Va. – A storybook upset over No. 1 seeded Virginia Tech was not in the cards for the South Dakota State women’s basketball team on Sunday night in the second round of the NCAA Tournament as the Hokies looked like one of the best teams in the country and ran away from the Jackrabbits with a 62-50 victory.
“I’m just really proud of our team,” said SDSU head coach Aaron Johnston. “You know, there’s nothing else that they would have had to do this year for it to be a better year. Had we won another game or two, three, four, whatever, it would have just been more wins stacked on top. It was a great year and it’s hard to have those great years come to an end.”
SDSU trailed 11-7 three minutes into the game and then Virginia Tech (29-4) outscored the Jacks 18-2 over the next 10 and a half minutes and led 29-9 with 6:38 left in the second quarter. SDSU would cut the VT lead to 36-23 with 2:27 left in the first half, but the Hokies then closed the half on a 10-0 run and took a 46-23 lead to the locker room.
“We just didn’t get off to a good enough start,” Johnston said. “… They shot it really well and that was tough. … If you’re going to beat a No. 1 seed, the bottom line is you’re going to have to have some things go your way and some things go against them. They shot it so well in the first half and that didn’t go our way. … We didn’t really have things early on go our way and things went their way.”
The Jacks cut the lead to 13 again in the third quarter, but just like the first time, the Hokies fought back and led 59-43 going into the fourth. SDSU then had multiple opportunities to cut the lead to single digits in the fourth quarter, but the Jacks just couldn’t get over the hump.
That was the running theme of the night. Every time it felt like SDSU was gaining momentum, Virginia Tech immediately grabbed it right back.
Sixth-year senior forward Myah Selland said she thinks her and her teammates will think about some of the missed opportunities they had on Sunday night.
“I think we’re all competitors and we’ll lose some sleep over a few plays. … We’ll try to let those plays go and reflect on the whole season, but we’re competitors and I’m sure we’ll lose some sleep over a couple of [those plays],” Selland said.
Despite SDSU not being able to come all the way back, Selland said she was proud of the way her team fought back in the second half.
“With this group we never feel like we’re out of it and we had nothing to lose. We had 20 more minutes to make the most of it and try to claw our way back and I’m just proud of the way we fought in the second half. Obviously it wasn’t the result we wanted, but I’m just proud of the way we battled till the end,” she said.
Virginia Tech was 12-of-30 from three on the night and the Jacks were 2-of-15 from beyond the arc. SDSU also shot 37.3% from the field and had 11 turnovers in the game. Johnston said he thought his team got some good looks, but the Hokies length affected his offense.
“I think we missed some open shots, but I think their length, any time you play a team at this level, length is a difference, it just is. That changes things. It changes things for our perimeter players and it impacted this game. I thought we got good looks though,” Johnston said.
SDSU was led by Selland who had 17 points and nine rebounds in her final game in a Jackrabbit uniform. Sophomores Haleigh Timmer and Paige Meyer each had 12 points.
Virginia Tech shot 41.8% from the field. The Hokies were led by junior point guard Georgia Amoore who had 21 points and made seven 3-pointers. 6-foot-6 center Elizabeth Kitley had 14 points and 14 rebounds. Taylor Soule had 13 points, Kayana Traylor had 11 points and Cayla King had nine points.
This was the 11th time in program history that SDSU made the NCAA Tournament and it was the fourth time that the Jacks advanced past the first round. Selland and Paiton Burckhard were on the team in 2019 when SDSU went to the Sweet 16 and even though the Jacks failed to make it to the Sweet 16 this season, Selland said she thinks this program keeps getting better and better.
“I think [this weekend] speaks to the consistency of this program and the culture that we’ve been building and the success that we’ve had here. I’m just so excited for the future of this program. There’s so much talent and so many good people. Yeah, I’m excited to be a fan now and watch what they can do,” Selland said.
SDSU finished the season with a record of 29-4. The Jacks did not lose a game against Summit League opponents as they went 21-0 in the conference and had a 22-game win streak going into Sunday night’s game. It was the 11th straight season that SDSU has had 20 or more wins and when Johnston took some time to reflect on the season he said what he’ll remember most is the relationships that he has with everyone on the team.
“I think you always think about the people,” Johnston said. “Time runs out on games, but time doesn’t need to run out on relationships and the people. You can take that and enjoy that and move forward with it, but unfortunately sometimes the games don’t go as long as you’d like. But certainly you remember the people and how they came together and got to the best version of themselves.
“We had some things in this game that didn’t go our way, but I don’t think I’d look back and say that we didn’t play tough enough or hard enough or didn’t compete. We just kind of let it get away from us. Even though that was in a loss, I think that was a good reflection of the toughness that this team played with all year.”
