Summit League Preview: South Dakota State Women at Omaha, North Dakota State
For the final time on the 2019 Summit League schedule, South Dakota State takes to the road with a pair of match-ups against teams they beat by a combined 87 points the first time around.
The Jackrabbits (18-6/10-1 Summit League) have won eight straight and with a sweep this week can take over sole possession of first place in the conference.
The first stop on the road trip is Wednesday (February 13) in Omaha.
The Mavericks (7-17/1-10 Summit League) are going through a youth movement starting three freshmen, a sophomore, and a junior and the growing pains are evident.
UNO has lost eight straight in the conference, shooting under 43 percent in each of those defeats. They have a league-worst 37 percent field goal percentage. The Mavericks have also turned the ball over 56 times in their last three games.
Junior guard Rayanna Carter is the only double-figure scorer in the lineup. Freshman forward Josie Filer is fifth in the Summit in rebounding.
Tipoff is 7:00 PM, Wednesday in Omaha.
SDSU won the first meeting 81-47.
The Jackrabbits blew open a close game by outscoring UNO 24-3 in the third quarter. SDSU scored 54 of their 81 points inside and got another 22 points off of 15 Maverick turnovers.
The road trip concludes Saturday (February 16) at North Dakota State.
The Bison (6-17/3-8 Summit League) have lost five straight, a streak that began with a loss to SDSU in Brookings January 23.
NDSU has shot the ball under 45 percent in four of those five losses, going just 7-of-30 (23%) from the three-point line in their last two.
They have committed 33 turnovers in the last two games and have given up more points than any team in the conference.
Sophomore guard Michelle Gaislerova, from the Czech Republic, is the team's leading scorer, averaging 13 points per game.
Tipoff is 1:00 PM, Saturday in Fargo.
SDSU won the first meeting 86-33 thanks in large part to red hot shooting. The Jackrabbits shot 58 percent in the first quarter, 50 percent in the second quarter, and 77 percent in the third quarter. That propelled the Jacks to a 51-point lead 30 minutes into the game.
State converted 22 NDSU turnovers into 24 points and send the Bison to the free throw line for just two attempts in the game.
Macy Miller and Madison Guebert led the Jackrabbits with a combined 42 points in 24 minutes. The pair was 15-of-22 from the floor and hit seven three-pointers.
South Dakota State ran their win streak to nine games with an 81-58 victory over North Dakota at home last week.
The Jacks started the game on a 17-2 run and used defense (forced 10 first-half turnovers) and offensive rebounding to make up for only shooting 38 percent in the first half. Tylee Irwin had ten first-half points for SDSU.
In the second half, the State defense forced 11 misses in 12 UND attempts from the three-point line.
The Jacks put the game away with a 10-0 run to start the fourth quarter.
I talked with Jackrabbits head coach Aaron Johnston about last week's win and the match-ups with Omaha and North Dakota State: