1 week Ago By Matt Zimmer
BROOKINGS — The South Dakota State women set themselves up with a six-game meatgrinder to begin non-conference play, and halfway through it they're 3-0. Rice? Check. ADVERTISEMENT No.
21 Creighton? Check. The Wisconsin Badgers? Check — courtesy of a 79-57 win in front of 3,167 First Bank & Trust Arena on Wednesday night. The No.
16 Duke Blue Devils are next, followed by Georgia Tech and No. 25 Oregon. They've all been warned.
The Jackrabbits didn't exactly destroy the Badgers on Wednesday, but they were in control for the duration, leading by as much as 12 in the first half, and after Wisconsin got within six at the break, dominating the second. The Jacks shot 51.7 percent to Wisconsin's 41.
1, outscored them at the line 13-7 and, most impressively, enjoyed a whopping +20 edge on the boards to hand the Badgers (2-1) their first loss of the season. It was an extra special win for Jacks post Mesa Byom, a Melrose, Wisc., native.
The 6-2 senior had 13 points and six rebounds in 20 minutes off the bench, one of three Rabbits to tally 13 among five in double figures. She said she grew up rooting for the Badgers, and she helped send them back with an 'L' on Wednesday. "I think coming in we knew they were gonna be physical," Byom said.
"So we worked on that all week, knowing we needed to rebound and take control down there." ADVERTISEMENT Serah Williams, Wisconsin's 6-4 center and reigning Big Ten defensive player of the year, had 19 points, nine rebounds and four assists for the Badgers, but the Jacks held guard Ronnie Porter to 11 points and she came into the game averaging 22.5.
And while Williams made her presence felt inside, blocking two shots, the Jacks outscored the Badgers 40-32 in the paint, as well as 28-7 off the bench. Brooklyn Meyer had 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists, Haleigh Timmer had 13 points, Paige Meyer 11 points and six assists and freshman Katie Vasecka 10 points and five rebounds. Were it not for a brief stretch in the second quarter in which the Badgers defense forced a handful of Jackrabbit turnovers, this one could've been even more lopsided.
"I thought we executed pretty well," said coach Aaron Johnston. "We thought rebounding was gonna be important. They're big and physical inside but we did a great job on the glass and just had really good balance, which is kind of what we've done so far this year.
So great to see Mesa and Katie come off the bench and play as well as they did and I thought our first group gave us really good minutes, too." The Jacks are inching closer to a spot in the Top 25 rankings, and probably making the rest of the Summit League nauseous as they consider the prospect of trying to beat this team once conference play begins. SDSU knows their fans and observers have already anointed them Summit League champs, and they'll spend the duration of the season ignoring that and staying focused on getting better.
That's part of why they scheduled so many power conference schools, and if the Jacks keep winning these games, there's no telling how high their ceiling might be. "Just getting the opportunity to play some of these big teams is huge for our team," Paige Meyer said. "We want to believe we can compete with anyone, so I think (we are) just going up against them each game and just kind of believing we can.
" The Blue Devils are next. They're ranked 16th in the country and coming off a Sweet 16 berth last year. Having an ACC blueblood in Brookings is an accomplishment in itself, but if the Jacks can pull off the win it will only increase the early-season hype brewing around this team.
ADVERTISEMENT "Duke's really good," Johnston said. "Take everyting that we've played against so far in these first three games, the best thing that each one of those teams does, and Duke does all of that plus a little bit more. They're long, they're athletic, they defend like crazy and they execute really well on offense.
It'll be a really good game for us and I'm so happy to have them come town. Another way for our program to continue to not only play great teams but continue to bring great basketball to our area and our fans. It's going to be a great crowd and a great atmosphere.
There's a lot of value in those games. We'll continue to get them and do our best to play well.".
