SDSU un-midas the Golden Grizz 64-63

Ariy-El Boynton

Ariy-El Boynton

It took overtime, but at the end of the game, the SDSU women’s basketball team took one more step toward a return trip to the WNIT and a regular season conference championship as they defeated the Oakland Golden Grizzlies 64-63 on Feb. 2.

SDSU senior Andrea Verdegan’s last-second bucket sent the game into overtime. The Jacks used that momentum after Verdegan’s shot to score the points they needed to win in Summit League play.

The Jacks increased their win total to 15-6 and now share the conference lead with the Western Illinois University Westernwinds, both 8-2 in Summit League play. Oakland with the loss drops to 13-7 overall, 6-4 in the Summit League.

Oakland’s only lead of the night came with less than 20 seconds left in the half when OU sophomore Hanna Reising scored two free throws.

SDSU’s Kristin Rotert, a true freshman from Salem, gave the Jacks a 10-point lead mid-way through the second half (53-43). Oakland in the final eight minutes would out-score the Jacks 18-8, led by Reissing who a career-high scored 32 points.

With 4.8 seconds left to go in the game, SDSU called a timeout. Verdegan got the ball and drove to the baseline, rising up to hit a difficult jump shot right before the buzzer, forcing the game into overtime.

The Jacks received a boost from their bench play. They showed off their depth as the Jacks players from the bench out-scored OU 12-3. The bench was led by Rotert who scored eight points and had a key steal in the overtime session. Maria Boever scored three of her team-high 13 points in the victory in the extra frame.

Along with 13 points, Boever also had seven rebounds. Junior Ashlea Muckenhirn added 10 points, and junior Jennifer Warkenthien had eight points and six rebounds.

Junior Golden Grizz April Kidd provided 14-points and 14-rebounds for the double-double. In the contest, the Jacks only shot 50 percent (10-20) from the free throw line and had 22 turnovers. Oakland shot 13 of 14 from the free line.

Four of the OU starters played more than 31 minutes. While SDSU had no players play more than 31 minutes, all 10 of SDSU’s players played over 10 minutes.

SDSU will take on Western Illinois on Feb.9 at 5 p.m. at Frost Arena. The game will break a tie bewteen SDSU and WIU for first place in the Summit League.