Jackrabbits romp in semifinals with 86-55 win over Oral Roberts

2019 Summit League Women’s Basketball Tournament

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SIOUX FALLS – South Dakota State rolled into the Summit League Women’s Basketball Championship title game with an 86-55 semifinal win over Oral Roberts on Monday afternoon at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center.

“I’m just proud of our team; another really good win,” said SDSU coach Aaron Johnston. “It’s hard to continue to advance in tournament play. Our team over the years has done a really good job of it, so I’m really proud of them. This group has been fantastic throughout the year, so I’m excited they have a chance to play again now on Tuesday in the championship.

“This game, I thought, went how a lot of our games recently have gone – great balance; a lot of different people stepped up and played well. We got good minutes from a lot of different people. We defended really well and were just really efficient on offense, so it was a good day for us.”

The Jackrabbits hit a 3-pointer 7 seconds in for the second game in a row. This time, it was Madison Guebert connecting from the right wing.

SDSU was up 23-12 after a quarter and put together a 15-0 spurt early in the second.

Layups by Myah Selland, Guebert and Tagyn Larson sparked the rally.

Selland then hit a trey, knocked down a jumper and converted a layup. Larson’s bucket in the paint pushed the advantage to 38-14 at the 5:47 mark of the period.

The Jackrabbits’ momentum was halted a bit to close the half, as four starters were on the bench with two fouls; however, the margin was still 18 points – 47-29 – at the break.

A 14-0 run late in the third all but sealed the deal.

Larson got it going with a 3-pointer at the 5:02 mark.

Tylee Irwin, Sydney Palmer and Macy Miller each went 2-of-2 at the free-throw line. Miller added a trey and Palmer hit a short jumper following an Irwin steal, making it 65-35 with 46 seconds left in the stanza.

It was 65-37 heading to the fourth and the lead twice reached 33 down the stretch.

The Jackrabbits shot 55.4 percent (31-of-56) from the field while limiting the Golden Eagles to just 28.8 percent (17-of-59).

“Good team defense,” Miller said. “Gap-side help and getting our hands on steals. Even our one-on-one defense is exceptional right now. I’ve said it before, but that’s leading right to our transition offense and really leads to better offense for us.”

Five SDSU players reached double figures, led by Miller’s 18 points. She added five boards, five assists and a pair of steals.

Larson scored 15 points on 7-of-7 shooting, grabbed eight boards and blocked three shots.

Selland tallied all 13 of her points in the first half. She also had seven rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Irwin went 6-of-6 at the line and contributed 11 points.

Reserve Lindsey Theuninck scored a career-high 10 points and dished out six assists in 15 minutes of action. Guebert had nine points, hitting a pair of 3s.

ORU’s Maya Mayberry and Keni Jo Lippe scored 10 points apiece.

Top-seeded South Dakota State (25-6), which has 15 consecutive victories, faces No. 2 South Dakota (28-4) in the final today at 1 p.m. The teams split during the regular season.

The title game will air live on ESPNU.

Fourth-seeded Oral Roberts dropped to 18-13.

Notes

SDSU improved to 27-2 in the tournament. The Jackrabbits have won titles in eight of their 10 years of eligibility (2009-13, 2015-16, 2018). … Miller has 2,265 career points – 12 off the Summit League record. … Guebert has 1,765 points and 357 3-pointers in her career.

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 86, ORAL ROBERTS 55

Oral Roberts (18-13)

Regan Schumacher 1-4 3-4 5, Maya Mayberry 4-13 0-2 10, Jordan Gilbert 2-6 5-6 9, Lakota Beatty 3-6 0-0 7, Keni Jo Lippe 2-13 5-6 10, Katie Kirkhart 2-4 0-0 4, Rachel Skalnik 0-1 0-0 0, Rylie Torrey 2-6 0-0 6, Montserrat Brotons 0-1 0-0 0, Sarah Garvie 1-5 1-2 4. Totals 17-59 14-20 55.

South Dakota State (25-6)

Tagyn Larson 7-7 0-0 15, Myah Selland 5-7 2-2 13, Madison Guebert 3-8 1-2 9, Macy Miller 7-18 3-4 18, Tylee Irwin 2-4 6-6 11, Rylie Cascio Jensen 0-2 0-0 0, Lindsey Theuninck 3-4 2-4 10, Jordan Ferrand 0-0 0-0 0, Sydney Palmer 1-2 2-2 4, Paiton Burckhard 2-3 0-0 4, Sydney Stapleton 0-0 0-0 0, Megan Bultsma 0-0 0-0 0, Addison Hirschman 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 31-56 16-20 86.

Oral Roberts           12  17    8  18    55

South Dakota State 23  24  18  21    86

3-point goals – ORU 7-26 (Torrey 2-3, Mayberry 2-6, Beatty 1-2, Garvie 1-5, Lippe 1-9, Skalnik 0-1); SDSU 8-25 (Theuninck 2-3, Guebert 2-7, Larson 1-1, Selland 1-2, Irwin 1-3, Miller 1-7, Cascio Jensen 0-1, Palmer 0-1). Rebounds – ORU 27 (Schumacher 7); SDSU 46 (Larson 8). Assists – ORU 8 (Torrey 2); SDSU 20 (Theuninck 6). Steals – ORU 4 (Mayberry, Beatty, Kirkhart, Garvie); SDSU 8 (Selland 2, Miller 2). Blocks – ORU 0; SDSU 7 (Larson 3). Turnovers – ORU 11; SDSU 15. Total fouls – ORU 17; SDSU 16. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None. A – 6,214.

 South Dakota 84, North Dakota 61

The Coyotes scored the game’s first 13 points and defeated the Fighting Hawks to reach the final.

UND missed its first 11 shots.

USD led 20-10 after a quarter and UND continued to chip away in the second, eventually pulling within two at 29-27 with 4:28 left in the half.

Ciara Duffy and Allison Arens countered with buckets for the Coyotes as they were ahead 40-33 at halftime.

USD opened the second half with another scoring spurt, tallying 10 consecutive points as Taylor Frederick converted a layup, Chloe Lamb hit a jumper, Madison McKeever made a short shot, Frederick scored again in the lane and McKeever buried a pair of foul shots to make it 50-33 with 6:07 left in the third stanza.

The Coyotes were up 66-34 entering the fourth.

Arens, who went 7-of-9 from the field, and Duffy both finished with 17 points. Frederick was also 7-of-9 while contributing 15 markers. McKeever, who was 8-of-8 at the line, added 10 points and Lamb nine.

USD shot 54 percent (27-of-50) and went 26-of-30 at the charity stripe.

UND ended up at 32.3 percent (20-of-62) from the floor.

Melissa Dailey led the Fighting Hawks with 16 points. Jill Mortan and Lexi Klabo, the league’s leading scorer, added 12 points apiece. Klabo was just 4-of-19 from the field.

SOUTH DAKOTA 84, NORTH DAKOTA 61

North Dakota (12-19)

Melissa Dailey 6-9 3-4 17, Jill Morton 4-10 2-2 12, Faith Dooley 1-1 2-2 4, Bailey Strand 1-6 0-0 2, Lexi Klabo 4-19 4-4 12, Jadyn Jarnot 2-3 2-2 7, Melissa Leet 0-1 1-2 1, Claire Orth 2-3 0-0 4, Alaina Jarnot 0-1 0-0 0, Mikayla Reinke 0-3 0-0 0, Julia Fleecs 0-6 2-2 2. Totals 20-62 16-18 61.

South Dakota (28-4)

Allison Arens 7-9 3-3 17, Taylor Frederick 7-9 0-0 15, Chloe Lamb 3-6 3-4 9, Madison McKeever 1-2 8-8 10, Ciara Duffy 6-13 2-2 17, Claudia Kunzer 0 0-0 0, Liv Korngable 0-3 2-2 2, Monica Arens 1-3 5-5 7, Regan Sankey 0-0 0-0 0, Hannah Sjerven 2-5 3-6 7, Allison Peplowski 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-50 26-30 84.

North Dakota  10  23  11  17    61

South Dakota 20  20  26  18    84

3-point goals – UND 5-14 (Dailey 2-3, Morton 2-3, J. Jarnot 1-1, Klabo 0-1, Leet 0-1, Reinke 0-1, Fleecs 0-1, Strand 0-3); USD 4-14 (Duffy 3-5, Frederick 1-3, Lamb 0-1, McKeever 0-1, Korngable 0-2, M. Arens 0-2). Rebounds – UND 31 (Dooley 7, Klabo 7); USD 38 (A. Arens 8). Assists – UND 10 (Morton 2, A. Jarnot 2, Reinke 2); USD 11 (A. Arens 3, Duffy 3). Steals – UND 5 (Morton, Dooley, Klabo, J. Jarnot, Orth); USD 6 (Frederick 2). Blocks – UND 0; USD 5 (Sjerven 3). Turnovers – UND 17; USD 18. Total fouls – UND 28; USD 25. Fouled out – Morton. Technical fouls – None. A – 6,214.