South Dakota State women’s basketball earned its 54th consecutive Summit League win and counting Saturday after defeating South Dakota, 77-59, in the Interstate Series.
With the win, the Jackrabbits remained undefeated in conference play while the Coyotes suffered their third consecutive loss.
“The thing I like the most about it is just kind of the longevity of several senior classes being a part of that,” South Dakota State women’s basketball coach Aaron Johnston said of the 54-conference game winning streak. “We’ve never really built our program on one class or one player and tried to ride that group out. … Anytime you have those kinds of long streaks like that, it speaks towards a lot of a lot of graduating classes that were a part of it.”
The depth of the program was on full display against SDSU’s in-state rivals. The Jackrabbits were led in scoring by Brooklyn Meyer and Haleigh Timmer who scored 15 points each, but they also had two other players in double figures. Mesa Byom scored 13 and Katie Vasecka added 12 points.
“We have a couple of the very best players in our league on our team. A couple of them, not just one,” Johnston said. “And any night, they can go off for big games, but it could be anybody.”
Two separate runs in the first and third quarters broke the game open in the Jackrabbits’ favor. South Dakota State went on a 16-0 run to take a 24-8 lead just before the end of the first quarter and later went on a 14-0 run in the third to take a 26-point lead.
“When we’re together offensively and defensively, that’s when we play the best,” South Dakota State forward Haleigh Timmer said. “It starts on defense a lot of times.”
South Dakota women’s basketball coach Carrie Eighmey said her team came out a little flat to start the second half which contributed to that decisive 14-0 third quarter run.
“That’s kind of where we have to improve as a team, is being able to kind of shore those up a lot quicker than we do sometimes,” Eighmey said postgame. “We just let two of those runs go way too long.”
This marked the second consecutive game the Coyotes have struggled to make shots. After shooting 10.5% from three against North Dakota State last game, USD converted on only 23.1% of their three-point attempts against South Dakota State. Despite their offensive struggles, Grace Larkins still posted a dominant performance. The senior guard scored a game-high 27 points, dished out eight assists, and grabbed seven rebounds.
“Offense is sometimes that way … the last couple games haven’t been our best shooting performances,” Eighmey said. “But I have faith in this team that those shooters will find it again.”
South Dakota State was also the more physically imposing team down low. The Coyotes attempted to force the ball out of Meyer’s hands with double teams and dare the Jackrabbits to make shots, but SDSU still managed to dominate inside. South Dakota State used their size to out rebound USD 37-26 and outscored them in the paint 42-26.
Up Next
South Dakota State will host North Dakota State in Brookings on Wednesday, Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. South Dakota will travel to Kansas City to face the Roos on Thursday, Jan. 30 at 7 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: South Dakota State women’s basketball cruises to big win over USD
