The Brookings Register
South Dakota State turned it on in the fourth quarter once again on Wednesday night and came away with an 83-76 victory over St. Thomas.
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ST. PAUL — South Dakota State turned it on in the fourth quarter once again on Wednesday night and came away with an 83-76 victory over St. Thomas.
SDSU trailed 62-58 heading into the fourth quarter and then went on a 13-0 run in the first six minutes of the final frame to go up nine with four minutes to go. SDSU was then able to knock down free throws and get lay ups down the stretch to hold off the Tommies.
SDSU head head coach Aaron Johnston said his team did a better job in the fourth quarter defensively, but they need to continue to play with physicality throughout the game.
“Late I thought we were much better defensively,” Johnston said. “Teams are just so physical with us right now. Physical, physical, physical. I don’t have a problem with that. It’s just the reality and we have to respond to that, and so far we haven’t.
“We’ve wanted it to be a little more finesse and wanted things to be a little bit easier. We want to get out and run and whip the ball around and fire three’s. We need to be more of a gritty basketball team that’s going to dig in and beat people possession by possession and not string a bunch of things together all the time.”
During that 13-0 run in the fourth quarter freshman forward Katie Vasecka scored the final seven points. She finished with 20 points in the game, which was one off her career-high.
“Katie Vasecka had a great game,” Johnston said. “She made some great plays [down the stretch].”
The two teams traded baskets the first seven and half minutes of the game as UST led 18-17. The Tommies then closed the quarter with an 11-3 run and took a 29-21 lead into the second quarter.
SDSU closed the gap to two points with 4:34 left in the second quarter. The Jacks then trailed 40-38 with 2:12 left in the first half but the Tommies outscored the Jacks 5-2 in the final two minutes and led 45-40 lead heading into halftime.
The Jacks just couldn’t get over the hump in the third quarter. They cut the lead to two once again with 5:38 left in the third but the Tommies then extended the lead to 52-48 at the midway point of the quarter and led by 4-5 points until the fourth.
SDSU shot 52.5% from the field and was 4-of-13 from three. Brooklyn Meyer led the Jacks with 21 points and six rebounds. Madison Mathiowetz had 13 points and Paige Meyer had 10 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Mesa Byom was 1-of-9 from the field but had 11 rebounds and six assists.
Johnston said he liked playing with size on Wednesday night and thought Byom played a solid game without lighting up the scoreboard.
“We mixed things up a little. At times we were big, playing Kallie [Theisen], Brooklyn and Mesa at those three spots and other times we used [Vasecka] there to try and create some matchups there. Both were good. Mesa played well, she just had a hard time offensively. It looked like she was pressing and didn’t get into a rhythm offensively, but she’s a good passer. She compliments so much of our ability of what we do with her passing and being able to stretch the floor,” Johnston said.
UST shot 43.5% from the field and was 7-of-17 from three. Amber Scalia led the Tommies with 23 points and eight assists. Jo Langbehn and Jade Hill each had 17 points.
The Jacks dominated the rebound battle 44-28. SDSU had 12 turnovers and UST had 11. The Jacks were 15-of-26 at the free throw line and the Tommies were 15-of-17.
SDSU improved to 16-3 overall and 6-0 in the Summit League. The Jacks have now won 53-straight conference games. This was the second single-digit win of the conference portion of the schedule this season and the second-straight game that the Jacks have needed a strong final quarter to pull out the victory.
Johnston said he thinks these battles are good for the team, especially as they head into another road game on Saturday at South Dakota.
“I think we need [another road game]. It’s a rivalry game and they’ve got some good players that can make plays and make shots. It’s going to be a challenge and it’s going to test the areas that we have to get better in. All of those kinds of reasons are going to make it hard and that’s why I think our team needs to see if they can rise to that challenge,” Johnston said.