The Jackrabbits women’s basketball team got off to a good start on Monday night in the opening game of the season, getting a 78-62 win over the Creighton Bluejays, who were receiving top 25 votes.
CREIGHTON
The star of the game was senior Brooklyn Meyer, who shot 14 of 20 from the field on her way to 33 points. Meyer also grabbed eight rebounds, tallied five assists, blocked five shots and stole the ball once.
Sophomore guard Katie Vasecka also had a big showing with 18 points and two of three shooting behind the arc. Vasecka also tallied three assists and three boards.
Another guard that had a solid night is senior Madison Mathiowetz, who shot three for three from the three-point line and three of five total of nine points on the night.
For the Bluejays, freshman guard Ava Zediker led the team in scoring. Zediker had 17 points on 5-7 shooting from the field, while also going 100% from the free-throw line.
Senior guard Kennedy Townsend had a rough night shooting, just over 35% from the field. But she did shoot four for eight from deep and managed 14 points on the night while also getting six boards.
Early in the game, the Jacks were down 13-11 before a Vasecka three gave them a 14-13 lead with three minutes left in the first quarter. This was the last time that Creighton would have control of the game and the first quarter ended with SDSU leading 18-13.
In the second quarter, Creighton pulled back within two, down 32-30, before a 6-0 run by the Jacks to end the quarter gave SDSU a 38-30 halftime lead.
In the third quarter, Creighton made a little bit of a run and closed the game to four points, but once again, SDSU responded and a Vasecka three pushed the lead back to seven. But Creighton wouldn’t go away and closed the game to just two points with SDSU clinging to a 49-47 lead. Emilee Fox hit a three and give SDSU a 52-47 lead going into the fourth.
SDSU put on a show in the fourth and closed out the game with an 11-2 run to seal an opening night victory over the Bluejays to move to 1-0 on the season.
RICE
SDSU’s home opener will be Friday, Nov. 7, at 7 p.m. when they host the Rice Owls. This will be Rice’s season opener with their only game of the season so far being an exhibition match where they beat the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor 102-35.
The Owls are coming off a perfectly mediocre season where they went 17-17. They finished below .500 in conference play with a 7-11 record in the American Athletic Conference.
Last season, Rice opened their season by hosting SDSU in a 65-63 loss for the Owls. The Owls led the Jackrabbits 52-39 going into the fourth quarter of that game but were outscored 26-11 in the fourth quarter.
Dominique Ennis, the Owls’ leading scorer from last year, returns for her senior season. The five-foot-nine guard averaged 12.2 points last season and shot 37% from three.
Junior guard Victoria Flores will also be a key piece for Rice as she averaged just over nine points a game and led the team in assists with over three per game.
Six-foot-one guard Hailee Adams led the team in rebounds in her redshirt sophomore season. Adams grabbed seven boards per game while also scoring just under seven points per game.
After Rice, SDSU will host Murray State on Tuesday, Nov. 11, at 7 p.m.
