Ariy-El Boynton

Before the Oral Roberts/SDSU women’s basketball match-up, Jacks’ head coach Aaron Johnston was given a basketball to celebrate his 200th win.

Johnston retuned the favor by giving his players liberty with the ball before the match-up.

The Jacks used aggressive man-to-man defensive and impressive shooting to beat Oral Roberts 76-52 at Frost Arena on Dec. 6.

“A.J. said green means go, and everybody had the green light,” said Jackrabbit junior Ketty Cornemann, who led all scorers with 20.

Right behind Cornemann was SDSU sophomore Kristin Rotert, who scored a quiet 18 points. Six of the starter’s total points came from the free-throw line, out of eight tries. The Jacks made 15 points from the charity stripe, missing only five freethrows.

Both Cornemann and Rotert were a part of SDSU’s 12-0 run to start the game.

Johnston told Cornemann to shoot in the Summit League match-up. Good thing the junior Yankton listens to her coach.

She scored six straight points to propel the Jackrabbits to a 12-point lead. From that point on, SDSU’s lead would not be less than 11.

“We played strong today, and we’re glad to get the win, to start off 2-0 in the league,” said Cornemann.

After a horrid first four minutes of the Centenary (La.) College match-up two days earlier, the Jacks started strong and increased the built-up lead.

In the first four minutes, the Jacks had the same points as turnovers (one) in their first Summit League game, this time SDSU forced the Golden Eagles to only one field goal in the first six minutes. The Jacks’ lead was as high as 24 in the first half.

All in all, the Jacks dominated the preseason third-ranked team in the Summit League by shooting nearly 40 (38.9) percent from behind the 3-point line. The Jacks almost made half of their shots from the field (27-from-55).

Oral Roberts was led by Janae Voelker, who had 14 points and eight rebounds. Golden Eagle post-player Monah Pegorari had seven rebounds.

ORU (5-3 overall 0-1 Summit) had fewer turnovers, swiped nine more steals (14-5) and had four more blocks.

But the Jackrabbits (8-1, 2-0) led in every other category, including an 11-more rebounding margin. What will be remembered beyond the stats is SDSU’s 24-point victory.

The aftermath of the game was that the team that was picked first in the conference preseason poll crushed the team that was picked third.

At SDSU’s second conference game, the Jacks had a chance for revenge from last’s year season end.

Despite winning the Summit League by four games last year, the Jacks were unable to go to the conference tournament. Oral Roberts won the conference and went to the NCAA tournament last year.

“It’s great to get them on our home court; anytime you can beat the tourney champs of your conference you have to be happy,” said Rotert, who is from Salem.

Jenn Warkenthien added a double-double, with 15 points and 17 rebounds.

“You just don’t realize how good Jenn is sometimes. She’s not flashy but is probably one of the better players I have ever coached here,” said Johnston.