BROOKINGS – Clarissa Ober posted a double-double of 15 points and 12 rebounds to lead four Jackrabbits in double figures as South Dakota State took over the top spot in the Summit League women’s basketball standings with a 70-58 defeat of South Dakota on Saturday afternoon at Frost Arena.
The Jackrabbits (18-5) improved to 9-2 in league play, while the Coyotes (19-5) dropped into a second-place tie with Western Illinois (18-6) at 8-3.
“It was a good win. It was just a great game on our side,” said SDSU head coach Aaron Johnston. “There are a lot of really nice places out there; but I’ll tell you, there’s just no place like Frost Arena. I know I’m a big-time homer, but that atmosphere is really like nothing else around. So that’s a pretty special place and we’re lucky to have the chance to play in that kind of environment.
“I thought we played really well defensively. That’s always been our calling card; I think, all year, when we’ve defended well we’ve had good chances to win. And then I think we did a good job of trying to score in and around the basket as much as possible. We just didn’t settle in this game like we have in some others. That was really what we wanted to do going in and I felt like we were able to get that done.”
The Jackrabbits led 18-14 after a quarter and pushed the margin to as many as 14 points – 36-22 – late in the second stanza.
SDSU was up 37-28 at halftime and 50-40 through three.
USD got as close as seven points – 55-48 – before Ober answered with a bucket with 6:48 to go in the game and Kerri Young hit a pair of foul shots with 6:02 showing on the clock.
Ciara Duffy’s bucket cut the deficit to nine points; however, Madison Guebert hit a jumper in the paint and Ellie Thompson added a layup and a free throw to make it 64-50 with 4:20 remaining.
Young, who had four assists and four boards, and Thompson scored 14 points apiece. Guebert contributed 12 points.
The Jackrabbits attempted 12 more free throws than the Coyotes, outscoring the visitors 23-16 at the stripe.
USD got 11 points from Duffy. Abigail Fogg and Jaycee Bradley added 10 apiece.
Allison Arens, who entered the game averaging a league-best 19.5 points per game, was limited to just one field goal and finished with six markers. She had 24 points in the Coyotes’ 65-62 home win over the Jackrabbits on Dec. 31 – a game in which SDSU was without both Ober and Macy Miller due to injuries.
South Dakota State plays host to Oral Roberts on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
