The South Dakota State women’s basketball team held off a late surge by No. 24/25 Kansas State to beat the Wildcats 82-78 Saturday afternoon at Municipal Auditorium.
SDSU moves to 6-4 on the season and 2-1 against ranked opponents this year. K-State is now 9-2.
Four Jacks finished in double digits, led by a 20-point outing on 8-of-11 shooting from Myah Selland. The redshirt senior also contributed five rebounds, two assists and a steal. Paiton Burckhard was 4-for-5 on the afternoon for 13 points and posted seven boards and a block. Vlastuin chipped in 12 points, all from the 3-point line, and had four rebounds, four assists and two steals. Haleigh Timmer also had 12 points and added five rebounds.
Neither team gained more than a six-point advantage in the opening 20 minutes and the Jackrabbits went into the locker room up four, 41-37. SDSU extended that lead to nine within the first minute of the second half, scoring five straight out of the break, and later took a 12-point lead on a pair of Madison Mathiowetz free throws. The Jackrabbits led by eight after three quarters.
The Jackrabbits took their largest lead of the game – 14 points – on a Vlastuin 3-pointer three minutes into the fourth period but then were held to only two more field goals the remainder of the contest. A 12-4 run pulled the Wildcats back within six with 90 seconds to play but the Jacks fended off the Wildcats’ comeback with seven made free throws in the final minute.
Mathiowetz and Brooklyn Meyer finished with six points each. Despite being held scoreless in the first 39 minutes of the contest, Tori Nelson knocked down five free throws in the last 60 seconds to help secure the win.
South Dakota State shot 51 percent from the field and 36 percent from the 3-point arc compared to 36 percent field goal shooting and a 22 percent 3-point showing by K-State. The Jacks had a 45-30 advantage in rebounding and 6-5 edge in blocks.
The Wildcats turned the Jacks over 20 times and committed only eight turnovers themselves. They also had a 13-4 lead in steals. K-State was led by Gabby Gregory’s 31 points and six rebounds.
NOTES
• SDSU is now 17-34 against ranked opponents in the Division I era.
• The Jackrabbits are 4-2 against Power Five opponents this season.
• This is SDSU’s first win over K-State. The series record is now 7-1 in favor of the Wildcats.
• Myah Selland moved into the top-five on SDSU’s career scoring chart. She has 1,759 career points, ranking fifth in program history. She passed Melissa Pater (1,747).
• Paiton Burckhard scored her 1,500th career point during the contest. She now has 1,511 career points, ranking 11th in program history.
• Myah Selland has scored at least 20 points three times this season and been in double figures on seven occasions.
• Tori Nelson is approaching 1,000 career points. She currently has 954.
• Madysen Vlastuin finished two shy of her career high in scoring.
UP NEXT
The Jackrabbits are set to host UT Martin Monday night at Frost Arena. Tip in Brookings is set for 6 p.m. SDSU wraps up the non conference season next Thursday night against No. 1 South Carolina at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls.
-GoJacks.com-
