Playing in front of a home crowd for the first time since Jan. 28, South Dakota State dominated North Dakota in a 94-48 victory Thursday night.
Leading by one after the first quarter, the Jackrabbits started the second hot with Madison Mathiowetz hitting a pull-up jumper, followed by a Katie Vasecka basket and foul. Vasecka converted the free throw to give the Jacks a 22-16 advantage.
“We’ve kind of got a different recipe going than maybe we’ve had in the past,” SDSU head coach Aaron Johnston said. “Our first five minutes of a game, first five minutes of the second half, we’re going to have to be a little bit better, a little sharper… but as the game went on… we were really good.”
UND cut the lead to one point after a 5-0 run. SDSU then extended the lead slightly, leading 26-21 when an Emilee Fox 3-pointer gave the Jacks a 29-21 advantage and forced the Hawks to call a timeout.
The timeout didn’t help the Hawks, as SDSU went on an 8-0 run until UND hit a free throw to make it 37-22. The UND score didn’t shift the momentum, though. On the following possession, SDSU went on a 4-0 run, and with the clock under five seconds until halftime, sophomore Emilee Fox extended the SDSU lead with a smooth mid-range jumper.
“I felt like just our defensive intensity really picked up,” senior forward Brooklyn Meyer said. “(We) had some really good plays and got some steals for us and we got to run in transition. So I feel like just our attitude kind of shifted and we just started playing better.”
Meyer opened the second half looking determined, scoring two straight baskets and on the next possession dishing it to a cutting Thul for a layup to bring the lead to 49-24.
On the following possession, Thul grabbed an offensive rebound and passed it to redshirt freshman Mahli Abdouch before falling out of bounds. Abdouch knocked down the 3-pointer off the pass to extend the Jackrabbits’ lead to 52-24.
Leading 56-32, Jackrabbits freshman Brooklynn Felchle made her presence known, scoring five straight points, including a three-point play. SDSU headed into the fourth leading 61-32.
Meyer checked back in to start the fourth quarter and made an impact immediately. She scored four straight points and recorded a block on the defensive end. On the next possession, Meyer grabbed an offensive rebound, put up a layup, was fouled and converted the three-point play to put SDSU up 68-32.
UND responded with a 3-pointer on the next possession before Fox answered with a 3-pointer of her own. Jackrabbits sophomore Hilary Behrens followed by draining another shot from deep to put the Jacks up 74-35 and force a Hawks timeout.
SDSU outscored UND 20-13 the rest of the quarter to seal the 94-48 win.
Meyer was the game’s leading scorer with 21 points. She recorded a double-double, grabbing 15 rebounds.
“Brooklyn continues to do just really special things,” Johnston said. “That’s quite a game in 23 minutes. That’s pretty remarkable.”
Junior guard Mathiowetz also scored in double figures with 11 points, shooting 4 of 8 from the field, including one 3-pointer. She struggled from the line, shooting 50% on four attempts.
Three UND players tied as the team’s leading scorers, with freshman Lauren Hillesheim, graduate student Mackenzie Hughes and senior Walker Demers all scoring 10 points.
UP NEXT
The Jackrabbits return to action at 2 p.m. Saturday for a Valentine’s Day matchup against Kansas City at First Bank & Trust Arena.
