College women's basketball: Jackrabbits head into second half of conference play

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BROOKINGS – As we hit the midway point of the conference portion of the South Dakota State women’s schedule, the Jackrabbits are halfway to their second unbeaten season in conference play in school history.

The Jacks are now 16-5 overall and have won their first nine games against Summit League competition. SDSU went undefeated in the 2020-21 season but only played 14 games due to COVID. The Jacks are two games ahead of North Dakota State as they sit in first place in the Summit League, but SDSU head coach Aaron Johnston said his team doesn’t really think of themselves as favorites in the league and won’t think about the undefeated record.

“I think anything can happen,” Johnston said. “Starting the second half [of conference play], traditionally our second half’s have been pretty good. I think we do a good job of making adjustments and finding out what worked and what didn’t work from the first time around. … I think our team has enough maturity and leadership to realize that you don’t really divide [the season up] or you don’t really get credit halfway points.

“Every game is its own game and we have to figure out how to be really good on Thursday and really good on Saturday, and we’ve always been really good at that. … I don’t think we’ll look at it as [we’re the] favorites or the first half went well, so automatically the second half will be good. I think there’s still a lot that our team can do better and we’ll definitely take that approach.”

SDSU’s winning streak began when sophomore point guard Paige Meyer returned to the lineup. Meyer missed the first 12 games of the season as she was still recovering from a serious knee injury that she suffered at the end of last season. Since her return the Jacks have averaged 86 points per game and are shooting 49.1% from the field, which is first in the Summit League in both categories.

Right now, Meyer is coming off of the bench as graduate transfer Dru Gylten is starting at point guard, like she did for the first 12 games of the season. Meyer is averaging 8.7 points and 3.3 assists and Gylten is averaging 4.7 points and 3.6 assists. Johnston said he’s going to stick with Gylten as the starter for now, but he’s certainly thought about inserting Meyer into the starting lineup as she started all 29 games she played in last season.

“I think we’re in a good plan right now, so the plan is to continue with what we’re doing,” Johnston said. “So, I think when we look at [the point guard position], you have to look at a couple of things. Who the starter is and who the better point guard is, because I don’t know if there is a better point guard. They’re both really good. It’s [also] about how do they impact those around them. So, that’s more of our thought as a staff. How do we make sure the best combinations and best lineups are on the floor at the same time?

“Up until now, Dru has been the starter, we expect Dru to kind of be in that role too, but we certainly think about what it would look like if Paige were in that starting lineup. … I think they’re both going to play a lot for us, they’re both going to have big roles for us, but [we’re] really trying to think about who around them is best suited to have Paige or Dru at point guard at that time.”

As much success as the Jacks have had in conference play, they have struggled a bit on the road. SDSU has outscored opponents by an average of 21 points at home this season and have a record of 9-1 at Frost Arena, including nine straight wins. On the road, SDSU has won by an average of four points and the Jacks lost two games on the road in the nonconference portion of their schedule.

Johnston said he certainly thinks there’s a difference between the way his team plays on the road than at home, but that’s how a lot of teams are.

“I think [the struggles on the road] is definitely there,” Johnston said. “We’ve talked about it with the staff and with the team, and everybody kind of feels like there’s been a different result, a different execution, a different energy at times [on the road] and I think it gets to the point where maybe we overthink that. We’ve always played well at Frost Arena, so we shouldn’t be surprised by that. … I don’t know if, our expectations are really high, not that we need to adjust are expectations, but maybe be more realistic in the sense that teams play better at home than on the road. That’s been the story for many, many years.

“So, we really want to make sure we find a way to play better on the road, which we can do, but also be fair in the sense that to think that we’re just going to make 17 three’s every time we play, whether were at home or on the road, there’s a little bit of unrealistic ideas with that. So, I just want to be really measured with that idea and really fair with our team and not be frustrated or beat anybody up because we’re undefeated on the road in conference.”

The Jacks shouldn’t have much trouble this weekend as they take on St. Thomas on Thursday at 7 p.m. and Western Illinois on Saturday at 2 p.m.

The Tommies enter Thursday’s matchup with an overall record 7-12 and are 2-7 in conference play. The Jacks won the first meeting 61-51 in St. Paul. WIU is 8-12 overall and 3-6 in the Summit League and SDSU won the first meeting 85-63.

You can watch Thursday’s game on Midco Sports and ESPN+. Saturday’s game will not be televised but you can listen to it on the Jackrabbit Sports Network or pay to watch it on gojacks.com.