The Jackrabbit women’s basketball team came out on top in the semifinal matchup against the Coyotes today with a 74-59 win.
The Jacks will now face the no. 1 seed North Dakota State Bison in the championship game tomorrow at 3 p.m.
The Jacks once again leaned on their seniors, with Brooklyn Meyer scoring 24 points and grabbing nine rebounds. Madison Mathiowetz had 23 points and five rebounds while shooting 7-15 from the floor and 7-8 from the line.
“Maddie and Brooklyn were elite today, as they have been for a long time,” head coach Aaron Johnston said postgame. “It’s fun to watch those two compete out there and make plays and feed off of each other.”
Freshman Hadley Thul only put up seven points offensively but had three steals and one block defensively.
For the Yotes, junior Molly Joyce had a good game, scoring 17 points on 50% shooting.
Senior Angelina Robles scored 18 points for USD while shooting 6-15 from the field.
The Jacks started the game looking aggressive, with Mathiowetz getting to the free-throw line and taking a 2-0 lead immediately.
With the Jacks holding a 3-2 lead, Thul knocked down a three to extend the lead to 6-2.
After a Coyote response, Mathiowetz cashed a shot from deep to put the Jacks up 11-6. Joyce then got to her spot in the mid-range and found the bottom of the net.
Mathiowetz came right back and hit a jumper to push the lead to 13-8.
After some more back and forth between the two teams, SDSU found themselves up 24-18 at the end of the first with Mathiowetz accounting for 11 of those points.
After a quick score for the Coyotes to start the second quarter, they found themselves down just four, but Robles quickly took care of that with five straight to take the lead.
Meyer responded for the Jacks with an and one layup, knocking down the free throw to give SDSU a 27-25 lead.
After another Coyote bucket, the score was all tied up at 27-27, forcing the Jacks to call a timeout.
USD retook the lead 29-27 out of the timeout, but SDSU responded with a 6-0 run, including four from Meyer, to take control 33-29.
Leading 34-31 with just a few seconds left in the quarter, the Jacks inbounded the ball to Maggie Hartwig, who got fouled and scored on a floater. Hartwig couldn’t convert the three-point play, so the Jacks went into the half leading 36-31.
During the third quarter after a defensive stop, Meyer got fouled and made both free throws to give SDSU a 38-31 lead.
The next time down the floor, Meyer set a screen for sophomore guard Emilee Fox, who used the screen to get space and pull up and splash a three, forcing the Yotes to call a timeout with SDSU up 41-31.
Out of the timeout, the Jacks still looked in control. On the defensive end, it was Thul getting a steal and Mathiowetz turned defense to offense by hitting a shot from downtown to put the Jacks up 44-31.
USD responded with a two, then it was once again Mathiowetz for the Jacks, this time a mid-range jumper in transition to put the Jacks up 46-33.
The coyotes showed they weren’t out of it yet, hitting back-to-back three-pointers to close in, putting the score at 46-39.
And just as the Jacks needed a bucket, it was Mathiowetz cashing a mid-range jumper to stop the 6-0 run.
“I think a lot of that is just letting the game come to me. We had a really good plan coming into the game, and just leaning into that and leaning into each other, then playing off each other. I think that was a big part of it,” Mathiowetz said in response to a question about her shot-making in big moments.
With the Jacks up 48-42, Meyer got sent to the free throw line, making the first and missing the second.
Hillary Behrens grabbed the rebound off Meyer’s miss and Meyer ended up getting a layup to extend the lead to 51-42.
That was the last score of the third quarter, and the Jacks went into the fourth with a nine-point lead.
After three trips to the free throw line between the two teams, the Jacks held a 54-43 lead.
Robles and Meyer then traded two-point buckets, keeping the gap steady before the Jacks went on a 4-1 scoring run to put the lead at 60-46.
USD cut the lead to just 11 after a three, but Behrens responded back with a three of her own to push the Jacks’ advantage to 63-49.
After a Jackrabbit free throw put the lead at 64-49, Joyce helped the Yotes close in after she went on a 5-0 run by herself to put the score at 64-54.
The USD run wasn’t enough, though, as the Jacks outscored the Coyotes down the stretch and got a 74-59 win to return to the Championship game, where the NDSU Bison will be waiting for them.
