Andrew Holtan | The Brookings Register
FARGO – The South Dakota State women’s basketball team got some revenge on Wednesday night as the Jackrabbits beat North Dakota State 59-44 at the Scheels Center.
NDSU ended SDSU’s 67-game Summit League regular season win streak back in January and on Wednesday, the Jackrabbits ended the Bison’s 23-game win streak.
SDSU head coach Aaron Johnston said he thought his team played with a lot of intensity and motivation on Wednesday night.
“We talk about that word, edge,” Johnston said. “I thought we played with an edge today, and usually when you’re playing with an edge, effort, toughness plays are happening, and those are so easy to celebrate. You’re not just relying on making a jump shot.
“You’re relying on, you know, watching somebody give something of themselves to your team and make physical, hard, uncomfortable plays, and those are incredibly inspiring, and our team really fed off of that.”
SDSU senior center Brooklyn Meyer thought her team did a good job of keeping their emotions in check while playing in front of a near sold out crowd in Fargo.
“I’m just super proud of how we came out. We were confident. I feel like we had the right attitude and we just stayed together. We stayed focused. … Super proud of how we handled, you know, the pressure and just the energy of a rivalry game,” Meyer said.
The Jacks led for 37 minutes in the game and a lot of their success came from how they played on the defensive side of the court. They held NDSU to 31% shooting from the field and the Bison were 2-of-14 from three.
“We were really very competitive,” Johnston said. “When that ball was on the ground, it was a blue shirt that got there quick and fast. We did a great job in gaps, closing gaps and making it hard for them to get easy looks. … The story is really that defense, rebounding, fight, grittiness, that’s really where this game was won today,” Johnston said.
SDSU led 6-2 just over three minutes into the game. Two free throws from Avery Koenen made it 13-10 with 1:16 to play in the opening quarter but Brooklyn Felchle made a lay up to make it 15-10 going into the second.
It was 17-12 when the Jacks went on an 8-0 run to go up 12 with 4:46 to go in the first half. NDSU would cut the lead in half with 1:19 to go but Hilary Behrens made a lay up with 1:06 to play in the half. Neither team scored the rest of the half and SDSU led 29-21 going into the locker room.
The two teams traded baskets in the third quarter and the lead was 41-33 going into the fourth. SDSU opened the final quarter with an 11-3 run and Madison Mathiowetz and Meyer combined to score nine of those points. Jocelyn Schiller made two free throws but then Mahli Abdouch made two free throws on the other end and Mathiowetz hit a three with 4:56 to go. That put the nail in the coffin as the Jacks led 57-38 with 4:57 to play.
Mathiowetz and Meyer combined to score 41 points. Mathiowetz had 23 points and Meyer had a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Abdouch and Hadley Thul each had six points.
NDSU was led by Koenen who had 11 points. Her and Meyer are the two battling for the Summit League Player of the Year Award. Coming into Wednesday, Koenen was averaging 19.2 points and 11.1 rebounds per game, while Meyer was averaging 21.8 points and 7.8 rebounds.
SDSU had a 32-30 advantage in rebounds. NDSU had 18 turnovers and SDSU had 15. Those numbers were reversed in points off of turnovers. The Jacks were 11-of-15 at the free throw line and the Bison were 12-of-19.
NDSU (25-3, 14-1) already has the No. 1 seed locked up for the Summit League Tournament. The Jackrabbits (23-6, 13-2) will host South Dakota in the regular season finale on Saturday at 6 p.m. and the winner will be the No. 2 seed.
Johnston said this was a big win because this can give them some momentum going into Saturday’s game and next week’s conference tournament.
“You know, we’re going to play hard in [Saturday’s] game. It’s senior day for us. Last game, it’s a rivalry. It’s seeding. There’s just so much on the line there. But good for us to come up here and play through some of those things in this environment. Get us in a kind of mode of play, you know, end of the season, tournament time and pressure in every game,” Johnston said.
