2024-02-16 04:13:53
You knew it would be a good night for South Dakota State (19-5, 11-0) when Brooklyn Meyer started Thursday’s game once morest Kansas City on a heater. The sophomore forward scored the Jackrabbits’ first nine points and never really slowed down the rest of the way.
The 1,828 fans in attendance at Frost Arena gave Meyer an ovation for her effort when she checked out for the final time in SDSU’s 74-53 win. Meyer scored a game-high 25 points on 9-of-13 shooting and also had seven rebounds.
“We did a good job at the beginning just finding open looks and being aggressive,” Meyer said.
South Dakota State women’s basketball coach Aaron Johnston said getting the ball to Meyer early wasn’t necessarily a focus, but he’s glad they did.
“We’re a better team when Brooklyn gets touches,” Johnston said. “It’s her scoring … but she’s also such a good passer, (and) just creates shots for us.”
The win marked South Dakota State’s 13th consecutive victory and they remain undefeated in conference play. The win also keeps them two games ahead of North Dakota State, who are second in the Summit League.
Overall, it was an ugly win for SDSU. Both teams shot under 43% from the field and 36% from three, but the Jackrabbits won the game on the margins.
South Dakota State seized control early, outscoring Kansas City 23-11 in the first quarter. From that point on, the Jackrabbits never looked back.
Their defense was outstanding, holding Kansas City to just 35.7% while also forcing 14 turnovers. South Dakota State turned those turnovers into 20 points and outscored the Roos in points off turnovers by 16.
“It was really important, especially tonight because our offense was just a little bit sluggish,” Johnston said of the winning the points off turnovers battle. “So, trying to get a couple easy ones if we might and take them a little out of their rhythm was important.”
On the other side, South Dakota State took care of the basketball, turning it over only seven times.
On offense the Jackrabbits had four players score in double figures. Paige Meyer scored 12, Madison Mathiowetz had 11 and Tori Nelson posted a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
South Dakota State will host Omaha on Saturday at Frost Arena at 2 p.m.
Jonathan Fernandez covers high school and college sports for the Argus Leader. Contact him at jfernandez1@argusleader.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JFERN31
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