MACOMB, Ill. – South Dakota State hammered defending Summit League champion Western Illinois for the second time this season, winning 70-42 on Saturday evening at Western Hall.
Madison Guebert hit five 3-pointers and scored a game-high 20 points.
Macy Miller totaled 16 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
Myah Selland dropped in 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting and grabbed eight boards in 20 minutes off the bench. Tagyn Larson corralled a career-best 14 rebounds to help SDSU to a 64-30 advantage on the glass.
The Jackrabbits led 18-14 after a quarter. The score stood at 20-19 early in the second, before SDSU closed the period on a 20-1 run to build a 40-20 halftime advantage.
Four different Jackrabbits – Selland, Sydney Paler, Miller and Guebert – nailed a trey, Ellie Thompson added a layup and Tylee Irwin made a free throw to make it 35-19.
Later, Miller went 2-for-2 at the line and then connected from deep just before the break.
The score was 59-38 through three.
The Leathernecks shot a chilly 17.4 percent (12-of-69) from the field – the lowest by an SDSU opponent this season. They went 5-of-35 from deep.
It was very similar to the first matchup this season – an 84-48 Jackrabbit win on Jan. 20 in Brookings. That day, WIU shot 23 percent (14-of-51) from the floor, including 9-of-38 from long range.
Morgan Blumer paced the third-place Leathernecks (19-8, 8-4) with 14 points. Reigning Player of the Year Emily Clemens missed all six of her field goal attempts but went 8-for-8 at the charity stripe.
The Leathernecks forced 23 turnovers, 15 of which came on steals.
South Dakota State picked up its 150th Summit League regular-season victory against 30 loss (.833 winning percentage).
The Jackrabbits are outscoring their opponents an average of 92.3-56.7 per game during a six-game winning streak.
SDSU (22-5, 11-1) travels to first-place South Dakota (23-5, 13-0) for a matchup Wednesday at 7 p.m.
The Jackrabbits close the regular season at IPFW on Saturday at 2 p.m.
The Coyotes topped the Jackrabbits 67-61 on Jan. 25 in Brookings.
Notes: Miller now has 1,600 career points. She remained in seventh in SDSU history, 287 behind Shannon Schlagel’s school record (1,887 from 2001-05). Miller is 14th in the Summit League record book and Clemens (1,597), a senior, is 15th.
Notes (from SDSU Sports Information): Guebert moved to 25th in career scoring as a Jackrabbit with 1,253 points. She’s now second in SDSU and fifth in Summit League history with 253 3-pointers. Former Jackrabbit Jill Young (2008-12) holds both records with 305. … Alexis Alexander has 502 career points.
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 70, WESTERN ILLINOIS 42
South Dakota State (22-5, 11-1 Summit)
Tagyn Larson 1-4 1-2 3, Ellie Thompson 1-4 0-0 2, Alexis Alexander 2-6 0-0 4, Madison Guebert 6-13 3-4 20, Macy Miller 5-14 4-5 16, Rylie Cascio Jensen 1-2 0-0 3, Tylee Irwin 1-7 1-2 4, Sydney Palmer 1-2 0-0 3, Sydney Tracy 0-0 0-0 0, Myah Selland 7-9 0-0 15, Megan Bultsma 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-62 9-13 70.
Western Illinois (19-8, 8-4 Summit)
Oliva Braun 1-6 1-4 3, Emily Clemens 0-6 8-8 8, Morgan Blumer 6-15 0-0 14, Michelle Farrow 2-10 0-0 5, Taylor Higginbotham 1-16 2-2 5, Olivia Kaufmann 2-8 2-2 7, Grace Gilmore 0-3 0-0 0, Krishna Merriman 0-1 0-0 0, Sam Pryor 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 12-69 13-16 42.
SDSU 18 22 19 11 – 70
WIU 14 6 18 4 – 42
3-point goals – SDSU 11-21 (Guebert 5-9, Miller 2-3, Selland 1-1, Cascio Jensen 1-2, Palmer 1-2, Irwin 1-3, Alexander 0-1), WIU 5-35 (Blumer 2-8, Kaufmann 1-2, Farrow 1-6, Higginbotham 1-10, Gilmore 0-1, Braun 0-2, Cleens 0-2, Pryor 0-4). Rebounds – SDSU 64 (Larson 14), WIU30 (Blumer, Higginbotham 6). Assists – SDSU 14 (Miller 4), WIU 9 (Clemens 5). Steals – SDSU 3 (Larson, Guebert, Bultsma 1), WIU 15 (Clemens, Farrow, Kaufmann 3). Blocks – SDSU 5 (Selland 2), WIU 4 (Blumer 3). Turnovers – SDSU 23, WIU 10. Total fouls – SDSU 15, WIU 17. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None. A – 1,139.
Photo from www.gojacks.com.
