BROOKINGS – The South Dakota State women’s basketball team opened up Summit League play with two victories over Western Illinois this weekend. The Jackrabbits grinded out a win Friday and blew out the Leathernecks Saturday.
Friday
• South Dakota State 71, Western Illinois 61
SDSU head coach Aaron Johnston reached a milestone Friday night. The win over the Leathernecks was his 500th of his career.
The Jacks fell behind 13-5 in the first five minutes of the game. They rallied to tie the game 15-15 at the end of the first quarter. SDSU went on a 11-4 in the first four minutes of the second quarter and led 36-28 at halftime.
SDSU extended the lead to 15 in the first minute and a half of the third quarter. The Jacks kept the Leathernecks at arms-length the rest of the way.
Myah Selland led SDSU with 16 points and six rebounds. Paiton Burckhard had 13 points and five rebounds. Tori Nelson had 11 points and seven rebounds. Tylee Irwin had 12 points and Lindsey Theuninck had eight.
The Jacks shot 38.8% from the field and were 6-for-22 from three. They outrebounded the Leathernecks to 41-39.
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 71, WESTERN ILLINOIS 61
Western Illinois (2-9, 1-2)
Grace Gilmore 4-7 6-6 14, Evan Zars 6-8 0-1 13, Danni Nichols 3-7 4-4 10, Carla Flores 4-7 0-0 9, Anna Deets 2-4 3-4 9, Mallory McDermott 1-6 0-0 3, Alissa Dins 1-4 0-0 2, Elizabeth 0-11 1-2 1. Totals 21-54 14-17 61.
South Dakota State (8-2, 1-0)
Myah Selland 6-15 4-6 16, Paiton Burckhard 5-10 3-3 13, Tylee Irwin 5-7 0-0 12, Tori Nelson 3-12 4-5 11, Lindsey Theuninck 3-7 1-2 8, Madysen Vlastuin 2-5 0-0 6, Mesa Byom 1-2 1-2 3, Haley Greer 1-8 0-0 2, Sydney Stapleton 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-67 13-18 71.
WIU 15 13 22 11 – 61
SDSU 15 21 24 11 – 71
3-point field goals – WIU 5-18 (Deets 2-3, Zars 1-2, Flores 1-2, McDerrmott 1-4, Gilmore 0-1, Nichols 0-2, Lutz 0-4), SDSU 6-22 (Irwin 2-2, Vlastuin 2-4, Theuninck 1-4, Byom 0-1, Selland 0-1, Stapleton 0-1). Rebounds – WIU 39 (Zars 12), SDSU 41 (Nelson 7). Assists – WIU 13 (Lutz 5), SDSU 15 (Selland, Theuninck 3). Steals – WIU 13 (Lutz 5), SDSU 11 (Burckhard 4). Blocks – WIU 3 (Zars 2), SDSU 6 (Selland, Greer 2). Turnovers – WIU 20, SDSU 14. Total fouls – WIU 16, SDSU 15. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – none. A – 504.
Saturday
• South Dakota State 87, Western Illinois 66
SDSU dominated the final five minutes of the game. The Jacks finished the game on a 20-5 run and outscored Western Illinois 30-19 in the final frame.
“I think we put everything that we had been talking about this weekend about needing to get stops and score on the other end and we put all together there right at the end when we needed to. A good way to end this weekend and looking forward to next weekend,” Selland said.
SDSU had a much better start Saturday than on Friday. The Jacks outscored the Leathernecks 16-6 in the first quarter. Both teams traded baskets in the second quarter and SDSU took a 36-25 lead into halftime. Western Illinois outscored SDSU 22-12 in the third quarter.
Selland had a monster game for SDSU. She led the Jacks with 29 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. Johnston said
“I think the great thing about Myah is you don’t have to just run your offense around her to get her going. She got offensive rebounds. She can get defensive rebound and go into transition and create something. Teams that zone us, she moves really well without the ball, so she catches it in really good spots to make plays. … Her all-around game allows her to be so involved without things having to be specific to her,” Johnston said.
Tylee Irwin had 16 points. Paiton Burckhard had 10 points and four rebounds. Tori Nelson had 10 points and five rebounds.
SDSU shot 46.9% from the field and was 7-for-24 from three. The Jacks forced the 25 turnovers.
Johnston said his team made some adjustments from Friday to Saturday, but
“We talked about a few things. In this game, it was how we guard the ball. Just close out, be really solid and keep it in front of us. Yesterday I didn’t think we really did a good job of doing that. … We rebounded the ball a lot better in this game. Particularly in the second half. That was something we talked about. Offensively, I thought we were much more deliberate at getting it inside. The three’s that we get are not necessarily cause we’re running our offense there. It’s because we have presence to go inside and then they help out and we get so many kick out shots,
The Jacks play at Omaha Friday and Saturday. Each game is scheduled to start at 3 p.m.
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 87, WESTERN ILLINOIS 66
Western Illinois (2-10, 1-3)
Elizabeth Lutz 6-10 2-2 18, Evan Zars 5-7 2-3 13, Danni Nichols 4-7 2-2 12, Grace Gilmore 3-7 2-5 8, Carla Flores 3-8 0-0 6, Sam Pryor 2-3 0-0 6, Mallory McDermott 1-3 1-1 3, Anna Deets 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 24-48 9-13 66.
South Dakota State (9-2, 2-0)
Myah Selland (10-15 8-8 29), Tylee Irwin 4-7 7-7 16, Paiton Burckhard 3-7 4-4 10, Tori Nelson 5-11 0-0 10, Madysen Vlasituin 3-5 0-0 7, Lindsey Theuninck 2-6 0-0 6, Haley Greer 2-8 1-1 6, Sydney Stapleton 1-3 0-0 3, Regan Nesheim 0-1 0-0 0, Mesa Byom 0-1 0-2 0. Totals 30-64 20-22 87.
WIU 6 19 22 19 – 66
SDSU 16 20 21 30 – 87
3-point field goals – WIU 9-19 (Lutz 4-6, Nichols 2-3, Pryor 2-3, Zars 1-2, Pryor 0-2, Deets 0-3), SDSU 7-24 (Irwin 1-2, Stapleton 1-2, Theuninck 2-6, Selland 1-3, Vlastuin 1-3, Greer 1-5, Burckhard 0-1, Nelson 0-2). Rebounds – WIU 30 (Zars 9), SDSU 31 (Selland 11). Assists – WIU 14 (Gilmore 8), SDSU 22 (Selland, Nelson 6). Steals – WIU 4 (Gilmore 3), SDSU 12 (Selland 4). Blocks – WIU 1 (Pryor), SDSU 1 (Nelson). Turnovers – WIU 25, SDSU 8. Total fouls – WIU 20, SDSU 15. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – none. A – 533.
