BROOKINGS — After sweeping their first two games in the Summit League, the South Dakota State women will return to Brookings for a pair of home games this week.

SDSU (12-3, 2-0) is coming off wins over Oral Roberts and Denver. The Jacks had to battle all the way to the finish with ORU and held off the Golden Eagles for an 81-76 victory. SDSU head coach Aaron Johnston said that he knew it was going to be a test going up against ORU and was happy that his team came out on top.

“I thought we played really well against Oral Roberts at times and got, not big, but six to eight points leads, and then we’d give them up. We played well at times in that game and then we didn’t. I think they in particular are just really talented. They have the capability to make a lot of one-on-one plays and the ability to score. They’re playing better defensively than they have in the past, so that was going to be a tough game. … Anytime you can play a game like that and be challenged and win, I think that’s a good experience for us,” Johnston said.

Freshman forward Katie Vasecka led the Jacks against the Golden Eagles with a career-high 21 points. Johnston said he’s started to work his offense more around Vasecka late in games because she’s so versatile.

“It’s fun to watch Katie [play well down the stretch of games], and she’s had a few games like that. Where we’ve gone to her in the second halves of games, trying to find certain matchups. Her skillset is just elite. She can play any position on the floor. You can put her in a ball screen, you can post her up or you can put her in isolation. She’s just really good,”Johnston said.

The Jacks then took care of business against Denver two days later. The Pioneers hung with SDSU in the first quarter, but the Jacks then outscored DU 68-30 in the final three quarters and came away with a 79-42 win.

SDSU’s leading scorer Brooklyn Meyer was held to just six points against ORU and was 2-of-5 from the field with three turnovers. She bounced back against the Pioneers with a team-high 21 points and 10 rebounds while going 9-for-9 from the field.

Johnston said Meyer is going to have big games like she did against the Pioneers, but there are also going to be nights like she had against ORU, where she needs to make the right play and be patient.

“I think a good word for Brooklyn this year is going to have to be patience,” Johnston said. “There are just certain teams, Oral Roberts was a good example and there were some teams in the non-conference, where they have someone in front of her and someone behind her and it becomes difficult to get her as involved as we’d like her to be and she would like to be. She’s an important player for us and I think we’re better when she’s involved.

“But I also think that if teams are going to commit two players to guarding her, and I’m saying two people when she doesn’t have the ball, she has to be patient in that stretch and not feel like she didn’t play well or was passive. She just has to accept it sometimes that people are going to take her away. The good thing is we have other players. As much as she didn’t get touches against Oral Roberts, we still scored 80 points. That speaks to how our team can play when teams do that to Brooklyn. But against Denver, she was able to get some touches, and we have to do a better job of how we get her touches and help her with that.”

SDSU will take on Omaha on Thursday. Omaha is in third place in the Summit League after winning its opening conference game against North Dakota, 71-66. The Mavericks have won nine of their past 10 games and their lone loss in that stretch came to No. 10 ranked Oklahoma.
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ohnston said he thinks the Mavericks have hit their stride lately because they were dealing with implementing new players to the roster early in the season.

“They’re playing really well, particularly December into the new year,” Johnston said. “Every year they have some new pieces and this year is no different. They brought in some new faces and I’m guessing in November they were still putting together how they wanted to play and now you can see a steep trajectory of winning as they got into December.

“Their guard play is really good. They just have a really good backcourt that can make shots, get to the basket, get to the free throw line and they’re also really good defensively. … We’re going to have to have a good plan there and we have to defend better. We’ve been a little up and down and inconsistent defensively. Penetration has caused us some problems, so we’re going to have to be better with that on Thursday night.”

Tip off between the Mavericks and Jacks is set for 7 p.m. on Thursday. You can watch the game on the Summit League Network or listen to the game on AM 570 WNAX. SDSU will then host Kansas City on Saturday at 2 p.m.