Lynn Stoneburner

LBack on Track. By sweeping Northern Colorado and Nebraska-Omaha at Frost Arena last weekend, the South Dakota State University women’s basketball team improved to 12-4 in the NCC.

The Jacks are in a first place conference tie with the North Dakota Fighting Sioux, entering the final week of regular season play.

On Friday, SDSU mauled the UNC Bears, 87-68. Led by junior Melissa Pater’s double-double (19 points, 12 rebounds), and a strong performance by sophomore Brenda Davis, who netted four from 3-point land and a total of 14 for the Jacks, State appeared unstoppable.

Pater and Davis were backed by senior Shari Johnson and freshman Shannon Schlagel, each putting in 13, and sophomore Stacie Cizek, of Omaha,Neb.,who scored 9 and dished off 7 assists.

”The weekend went really good,” Cizek said. ”Going into two tough road games, it is good to get two wins behind us.”

The Jackrabbits shot 41.4 percent from the field, nailing 28 of 70 shots.

The Bears shot slightly better from the field, netting 23 of 53, for 43.4percent, but SDSU won the battle of the boards, 47-30, and displayed better control of the ball, committing 8 less turnovers, to seal the victory.

The University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks stormed into Brookings Saturday night to do battle with the hometown Jackrabbits! SDSU came out with hot hands in the first half, shooting 51.7 percent, to take a 45-31 halftime lead. While the Jacks cooled a bit in the second half, they outlasted the Mavericks, 77-67.

Pater and Schlagel had double-double performances, Pater putting in 20 points and pulling down 10 rebounds for the Jacks, while Schlagel netted 14, and grabbed 14 rebounds.

Davis was again sizzling from three point range, sinking four 3-pointers, and tallying 16 overall. Freshman Sarita DeBoer, of Huron, tossed in 13 for SDSU.

SDSU overpowered UNO in the battle of the boards, 50-32, and the Jacks finished with 40.6 percent from the field, compared to UNO’s 41.9 percent.

”In practice we are watching a lot of films and practicing hard to get ready for North Dakota,” Cizek said.

The Jacks venture off to North Dakota next weekend, for regular season-ending clashes, starting with the NDSU Bison on Friday night in Fargo. It figures to be a tight matchup, and great warmup to Saturday night’s finale in Grand Forks, where State will square off with current

NCC co-leader, the UND Fighting Sioux.