BROOKINGS – After back-to-back losses on the road, the South Dakota State women returned home on Saturday and picked up a much needed 80-69 win over Northern Iowa.

SDSU lost to Washington State, 61-41, on Monday and then fell to Montana State, 71-66, on Wednesday. SDSU head coach Aaron Johnston said the win over the Panthers was important for the Jackrabbits confidence.

“That was an important win for us coming off of a tough week. It was really important, and I think with our schedule all of them are important because none of them are easy wins. … It was an important one for us to get a W, but it was important for the lift or confidence boost after a disappointing week with how we played,” Johnston said.

The Jacks got off to a slow start offensively. SDSU shot 27.7% from the field in the first half, but the Jacks led 29-27 at the break.

Each team started to make more shots in the third quarter. The Panthers would take the lead and extend it to 48-41 with four minutes left in the quarter. The Jacks responded with an 11-3 run to close out the third and it was 51-51 heading into the fourth.

The two teams traded baskets till the midway point of the fourth. A Tori Nelson 3-pointer put SDSU up 64-62 with 4:46 remaining. The Jacks then went an 8-2 run to go up 72-64 with 2:48 to play. The Panthers then hit a three, but Haleigh Timmer answered with a three of her own and Paiton Burckhard put in a lay-up to put the game out of reach with just under a minute remaining.

SDSU forward Myah Selland said it was the defensive side of the ball that helped the Jacks pull away down the stretch.

“I think defensively we made some big play, but I think we had a lot of toughness. Shots weren’t falling for us early but stepped up to the plate down the stretch. We hit a couple really big threes. Obviously when we get stops it helps us offensively, but we just made some big plays,” Selland said.,

The Jacks shot 62% from the field in the second half and were 7-12 from three in the final 20 minutes. Burckhard said she thought the turnaround offensively in the second half showed the fight that SDSU has.

“I think [we shot the ball better in the second half because] of the toughness from our players. We weren’t shooting the ball well, but having people step up and be ready to make those shots and you saw those two big threes. Those brought energy and put us up by more. There was just a lot of confidence and a lot of good things coming from players and [they showed] their willingness to win and fight for us,” Burckhard said.

SDSU is now shooting 43.8% from the field and 27.8% from three this season. The Jacks were one of the best shooting teams in the country last season and Johnston said he likes the shots that his players are taking, they just need to make them.

“I really do [think we’re taking good shots]. We have different lineups, so we need to figure out what the best way to attack with each lineup is. I think we’re getting there, but in the first half I wouldn’t have said shot selection was our problem, we just didn’t make enough of them. I do think ball movement is important for us. We didn’t shoot it great today, but we had 20 assists. So, when our shots are coming on ball movement rather than dribbling, I think we’re better and I think that’s something that we need to continue to remember as we move forward,” Johnston said.

Selland led SDSU with 19 points, six assists and four rebounds. Burckhard had 13 points and 12 rebounds. Dru Gylten had 11 points and seven assists. Timmer had 14 points.

UNI shot 39% from the field and was 10-31 from three. Johnston said

“We handled a lot of their ball screens. They’re really good with that and we handled the matchups with ball screens. I thought our posts did good at guarding on the perimeter and our guards did a good job of guarding their posts. We kept things in front of us and defensive transition was better than it has been, and we just did a good job on all those switches,” Johnston said.

Emerson Green led the Panthers with 17 points. Grace Boffeli had 15 points and Maya McDermott had 14 points.

The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Jacks as they will travel to Kansas City this weekend to take on Kansas State, who is 8-1 on the season. SDSU has had a up and down season up to this point as the Jacks knocked off No. 10 Louisville in the Battle 4 Atlantis before dropping the two road games.

Johnston said

“I’ll be honest, I think we’re still getting better, and I’m optimistic about that, but I think it’s fair to say that I’m disappointed we didn’t play better [earlier] this week,” he said. “Those were good opportunities for us and regardless of win or a loss, I’m just saying we should have played better. We should have been in a different position in both of those games based on our performance and hopefully could have gotten wins, but regardless of the outcome, we just didn’t play well. We didn’t play hungry, we didn’t play focused, so that’s disappointing.

“So, I think for me, we can move forward, but I think we have to be realistic and realize that we have both sides in us right now. We have a competitive side that can be locked in and we’ve also shown that we can be distracted at times, so we have to be more consistent with that.”