BROOKINGS – Coming off one of their worst performances of the season, it took South Dakota State until the fourth quarter to pull away from North Dakota State Friday night at Frost Arena.
The Jackrabbits, who lost to the University of South Dakota 83-48 on Sunday, came out ice cold against the Bison. SDSU fell behind 13-5 seven minutes into the first quarter and the Bison led 13-12 at the end of the quarter. The Jacks would fall behind by eight with 6:15 to go in the first half, but ended the half on a 8-2 run to cut the lead to 25-24 heading into halftime.
The two teams went back and forth in the third quarter and NDSU (4-14, 1-5) took a 42-38 lead into the fourth. The game changed when the Jacks scored six-straight points to start the fourth quarter, all scored by Tori Nelson, to take a 44-42 lead. SDSU would then score five more points to make it an 11-0 run and gave them a seven point advantage with 5:41 left. NDSU would pull back within three, but the Jacks made their free throws down the stretch and came away with a 60-52 victory.
“Good win. I’m real pleased that we were able to get that done in the fourth quarter,” SDSU head coach Aaron Johnston said. “I think North Dakota State played very well and did some nice things to get them in position to be there right with us at the end of the game.”
Johnston added that SDSU’s first three quarters were “average.”
“North Dakota State causes that. I thought their physicality inside caused us some problems. We weren’t as sharp inside as we had been and that’s been such a big part of our offense. All of the sudden you take that away and it puts a lot of pressure on other players and I thought we didn’t finish some shots well and didn’t shoot it well from the three point line. … We could have made some shots early, I’m not saying the game would be different, but it certainly changes our confidence and energy level,” Johnston said.
The Jacks shot 28.6% from the field and were 1-13 from three. Against USD, SDSU shot 36.7% from the field and was 3-17 from three. Nelson said that the team is not concerned with the shooting woes.
“I think we’re still getting good shots, they’re just not falling. We have good shooters and we’re confident in them and the ball will go in eventually,” Nelson said.
The Jacks (15-7, 7-1) were led by Paiton Burckhard who had a double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Tagyn Larson had 12 points and seven rebounds. Tori Nelson had nine points, five rebounds and three assists. Tylee Irwin finished with eight points and eight rebounds.
NDSU head coach Jory Collins said their game plan was to let Burckhard get hers and not let anyone else beat them.
“We came into the game saying ‘[Burckhard] is going to get hers, let’s not let anyone else do anything. Try to play her straight up. Try to kind of wall up as well as we can and try to make her finish over the top. … I thought we did a good job of that. Obviously you’re playing with fire there. If they knock down some of their three’s it’s a different game,” he said.
Michelle Gaislerova led the Bison with 15 points. Ryan Cobbins had 10 points. Sofia Zivalijevic and Cirkeline Rimdal each had six points.
It seemed as though the Jacks had a bit of a hangover from their blowout loss against USD, but Johnston said they had a good week of practice heading into the matchup with the Bison.
“I would say atching the game [it looked like a hangover], but I didn’t feel that way heading into it. I thought we practiced really well. I thought we were really good the last couple of days to be honest with you. Just a really good focus and a positive energy. I thought it was really good. So I don’t know if it was just the start that didn’t really go well for us that kind of zapped us a little bit or if there was anything lingering from that tough loss,” Johnston said.
SDSU will return to the road for their next two games. They will take on Western Illinois on Jan. 30 and will face Oral Roberts on Feb. 1.
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 60, NORTH DAKOTA STATE 52
North Dakota State (4-14, 1-5)
Michelle Gaislerova 5-14 0-0 15, Ryan Cobbins 5-10 0-1 10, Sofia Zivaljevic 3-10 0-4 6, Cirkeline Rimdal 2-2 1-2 6, Raquel Terrer van Gool 1-2 2-2 5, Rylee Nudell 2-6 0-0 4, Emily Dietz 2-6 0-0 4, Danneka Voegeli 1-2 0-0 0, Nicole Scales 0-2 0-0 0, Olivia Skibiel 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-54 3-6 52.
South Dakota State (15-7, 7-1)
Paiton Burckhard 7-18 7-9 22, Tagyn Larson 2-7 8-8 12, Tori Nelson 2-10 5-6 9, Tylee Irwin 2-4 4-4 8, Megan Bultsma 2-6 1-1 5, Rylie Cascio Jensen 0-3 2-4 2, Lindsey Theuninck 1-6 0-0 2, Sydney Stapleton 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 16-56 27-32 60.
NDSU 13 12 17 10 – 52
SDSU 12 12 14 22 – 60
3-point field goals – NDSU 7-20 (Terrer van Gool 1-1, Rimdal 1-1, Gaislerova 5-8, Cobbins 0-2, Nudell 0-2, Scales 0-2, Zivalijevic 0-4), SDSU 1-13 (Burckhard 1-2, Larson 0-2, Cascio Jensen 0-2, Stapleton 0-2, Theuninck 0-3). Rebounds – NDSU 36 (Nudell 7), SDSU 42 (Burckhard 10). Assists – NDSU 8 (Zivalijevic 4), SDSU 10 (Nelson 3). Steals – NDSU 5 (Voegeli 2), SDSU 8 (Cascio Jensen, Nelson, Stapleton 2). Blocks – NDSU 2 (Cobbins, Dietz), SDSU 9 (Nelson, Bultsma 2). Turnovers – NDSU 17, SDSU 10. Total fouls – NDSU 23, SDSU 13. Fouled out – NDSU Zivalijevic. Technical fouls – none. A – 1,959.
