BROOKINGS — For the first time in a long time, South Dakota State women’s basketball has some question marks heading into the season.

After losing two of the program’s best players in Myah Selland and Paiton Burckhard to graduation, SDSU suffered two big blows in the offseason as junior guard Haleigh Timmer and senior forward Kallie Theisen had season-ending injuries.

The Jackrabbits unofficially began their season on Wednesday night as they beat Minnesota-Duluth 73-49 in an exhibition game.

Timmer was expected to be the team’s leading-scorer heading into the season after averaging 12.1 points per game last season, which was second on the team. Theisen has improved every season at SDSU and was expected to hold a bigger role entering her fifth season in the yellow and blue.

SDSU head coach Aaron Johnston said the injuries certainly hurt the team’s depth, but he doesn’t think they will change the way the Jacks play.

“We have a style of play that really fits this team and I think we do that every year. You know, last year we ran a style that fit the senior group. … We knew we were going to have to adjust anyway and we had a lot of time because unfortunately those injuries happened early, but we’ve had a lot of time to get to a new plan. A lot of of what we’ll do was in place already this summer, getting ready for what we had to do without [Selland and Burckhard],” Johnston said.

SDSU had two players named to the preseason All-Summit League teams and both are expected to be the leaders for the Jacks. Junior point guard Paige Meyer was named to the All-Summit League First Team and senior forward Tori Nelson was named to the All-Summit League Second Team.

Paige Meyer is a two-time All-Summit League Second Team selection and averaged 10.5 points, 3.2 assists and 1.3 steals per game last season while shooting 54.4% from the field and 48.8% from three. Johnston said the next step in the development of Meyer will be consistently scoring and leading.

“I think [the next step] is her becoming more of a scorer and more of a leader. Just with how vocal she can be on the floor and especially being a point guard and getting us into the right sets and options. … [I want her] to look for her shot a little more than she has in the past. She’s such a good passer and a good point guard in terms of getting the ball to people, but she can also score and we just didn’t need her to do that last year,” Johnston said.

Nelson will be the only senior that will see playing time this season for the Jacks. She’s started every game for SDSU over the past two seasons and averaged 7.9 points and 3.4 rebounds per game last season. Nelson said being the only senior that will play means she will have to be more of a vocal leader than she has in years past, especially with the injuries to Timmer and Theisen.

“I think I’ll have to be a really versatile player for us and have to be able to play 1-5 positions depending on lineups and who’s in foul trouble. So, losing those players affects all of us and it especially affects me in those areas. I think being that vocal person on the floor [is important]. … I’ll take that load of barring that on the court when we’re out there playing and continue to take steps doing that,” Nelson said.

Johnston added that he thinks Nelson is ready to step up this season.

“Tori was the [Summit League] Freshman Player of the Year when she came to South Dakota State. She’s always been a really elite player, but has played with a lot of other elite players throughout her career. Now it’s her turn as a senior to really take on a bigger role,” Johnston said.

Another returner is sophomore forward Brooklyn Meyer. Brooklyn Meyer was one of six SDSU players to play in all 35 games last year and averaged 12.5 minutes per game. She averaged 5.6 points and 3.6 rebounds and shot 50% from the field. Johnston said he expects her to have a big jump this season not only because she’ll get more playing time, but because some of the offense will be catered to her.

“I think we’re running an offense that will highlight Brooklyn’s strengths and talents more, where last year she had to fit into what we were doing. Now we’re designing things around a couple different players including Brooklyn, so people will really get to see her in a way they never saw her last year,” Johnston said.

SDSU has two other juniors that have playing experience in forwards Madysen Vlastuin and Mesa Byom. Neither player has ever started a game at SDSU, but Vlastuin has played in 69 games and Byom has played 65 games. Johnston said both players are going to have to step up if the Jackrabbits want to see success this season.

“This is [Vlastuin and Byom’s] fourth year at SDSU too and they’ve played on and off throughout their career. But this year we need them to play much more significant minutes, so they’re going to have to step up and play like juniors,” he said.

SDSU will also turn to sophomore guards Madison Mathiowetz and Ellie Colbeck who each saw action last season. The Jacks have two freshmen in Jenna Hopp and Hilary Behrens, who are each guards. Johnston said working this many inexperienced players into the rotation isn’t something that’s totally new for him, but SDSU just hasn’t had to do it the past few seasons.

“We had a two or three-year run where it seemed like we had everybody back every year, but the reality is most of the time each year you’re always working two or three new players into a rotation because of graduation and how college athletics works. So, what we’re doing this year is pretty typical. The talent level is definitely there and it’s just a matter of moving some of our experienced players up a notch and having them be the leaders they need to be and working a few new players into the rotation and having them feel confident,” Johnston said.

Like most seasons, SDSU will play a tough non-conference schedule, but this one is especially tough because seven of the Jacks 11 games against Division I opponents will come on the road. They play two power five teams on the road in Wisconsin on Nov. 14 and No. 6 South Carolina on Nov. 20. SDSU also plays three solid mid-major programs on the road in Northern Iowa (Dec. 9), Gonzaga (Dec. 17) and Creighton (Dec. 17).

SDSU’s two home games against teams with winning records last season are Washington State on Dec. 5 and Montana State on Jan. 6. The Jacks officially open the season on Monday at home against Arkansas State at 6 p.m.