Zach Anderson

The women’s basketball team began their defense of the Summit League title with a 74-53 victory over Western Illinois on Dec. 5 in Macomb, Ill. Leading 31-24 at the half, the Jacks used a 17-6 second-half run to pull away for good.

With 7:40 to play, Ketty Cornemann hit a 3-pointer to put the Jacks up 22 points at 60-38.

In the middle of the first half, Maria Boever hit a basket, giving the Jacks a 15-4 lead.

Western Illinois responded with a 9-2 run to make the score close at 17-13.

That didn’t last long, as both Jackrabbit’s bench players Katie Lingle and Steph Paluch added 3-pointers.

Cornemann and teammate Boever both finished the game with 14 points. Kristin Rotert tallied 13 points in the win. Boever also pulled down a team- high six rebounds.

For Western Illinois, Erica Lewis scored a game-high 17 points and pulled in seven rebounds in the loss. Teammate Jordon O’Brien had nine points and four rebounds for the Fighting Leathernecks.

The Jackrabbits moved to 3-4 (1-0 Summit League) on the season, while the Fighting Leathernecks dropped to 2-5 (0-1 Summit League).

The Jackrabbits completed the weekend conference sweep by downing IUPUI 85-77 in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Dec. 7. Cornemann led the Jacks with 18 points, a season high.

Boever had 14 points in the win and scored her 1,000th point in her SDSU career, making her the 27th player in SDSU women’s basketball history to reach the mark.

The basket by Boever that pushed her into SDSU history gave the Jacks a 30-28 halftime lead and one that they would never relinquish.

A 5-0 start to the second half for the Jacks, courtesy of a Boever basket and Jill Young 3-pointer, gave the Jacks a double-digit lead, but that wouldn’t last for long.

With 15:39 to play, the Jaguars’ Gretchen Gaskin hit a three-point shot to trim the SDSU lead to 50-48.

The Jaguars got within eight as the game ended.

Two other Jackrabbits also scored double digits, Jennie Sunnarborg with 13 points and Young with 11.

Bench players led IUPUI, as they accounted for 46 of the team’s 77 points. Jessica Huffman scored 22 points for the Jaguars in the loss.

With the win, the Jacks moved to 4-4 (2-0 Summit League) on the season, and IUPUI fell to 1-8 for the year (0-2 Summit League). SDSU leads the all-time series with IUPUI 6-0.

Up next, the Jackrabbits will take on Middle Tennessee State at noon on Dec. 13 at Frost Arena.