The South Dakota State women’s basketball team are the 2026 Summit League Tournament Champions.
The Jacks defeated the Bison with a score of 64-51 earlier today and won their fourth straight Summit League Tournament.
All three Jackrabbit seniors played key roles in the win. Brooklyn Meyer, who was named MVP of the tournament, had a game-high 26 points on the day. Meyer also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
Senior Ellie Colbeck also played a key role in the absence of redshirt freshman Mahli Abdouch. Colbeck had eight points and hit some crucial shots and free throws down the stretch.
Senior Madison Mathiowetz had an unusually quiet game, scoring just six points, but she did have three steals against NDSU.
Even with the quiet game, Mathiowetz was named to the Summit League All-Tournament Team.
“I’m really happy for our seniors. I just think it’s remarkable what they’ve accomplished in their careers,” said head coach Aaron Johnston. “I don’t know where things rank and how they fit in the bigger picture of things, but for these three women to go through their careers and only lose two games in the Summit League regular season and postseason is just remarkable … They’ve been great people. They’ve been great winners.”
The Bison’s star, junior Avery Koenen, was held to 12 points on 4-12 shooting from the floor. Koenen did have a game-high 13 rebounds.
“She’s (Koenen) a really good player and obviously tough to guard,” Meyer said. “I feel like it was definitely physical down low, and we traded shots, but yeah, she’s just a really good player.”
The game started with each team throwing body blow after body blow. The two rivals found themselves tied at 6-6 before Meyer scored her first bucket of the game to take a two-point lead.
The Bison came right back down the floor and reclaimed the lead with a Molly Lenz three-pointer.
But Meyer wasn’t backing down for the Jacks, scoring six straight to extend the lead to 14-9.
NDSU quieted the crowd with a big three to cut the lead to 14-12.
After the NDSU three, there was over a minute of scoreless action before Emilee Fox hit a mid-range jumper to give the Jacks a 16-12 lead with just over two minutes left in the quarter.
Both teams’ defenses locked down the rest of the quarter and the Jacks took a four-point lead into the second quarter.
NDSU cut the lead to just one point after Jocelyn Schiller opened the quarter with her second three of the game.
The Jacks increased the gap slightly after a couple of buckets to make the score 21-15.
The Bison cut the lead in half when Lenz hit another shot from deep, making the score 21-18.
Following this, the Jacks went on a 6-0 scoring run to once again balloon the lead, this time to 27-18.
After more back and forth, the Jacks held a 31-24 lead with halftime approaching fast, but right before the clock hit zero, NDSU’s Marisa Frost hit a corner three to cut the lead to 31-27 at the end of the second quarter.
The second half started and the Bison cut the lead to one after Abby Krzewinski hit a shot from outside.
The Jacks struggled to score early in the quarter, but Meyer was holding it down defensively, blocking Koenen on three straight shot attempts.
Meyer then got fouled at the other end and hit one of two free throws to extend the lead to 32-30.
Koenen wasn’t backing down even after the blocks as she scored four straight to give NDSU a lead and force an SDSU timeout.
Coming out of the timeout, the Jacks found Meyer, who took contact and laid the ball up and in for a chance at a three-point play.
Meyer couldn’t convert the free throw and following that, Koenen gave it right back on the other end by getting fouled and putting it in.
Koenen also couldn’t convert at the line and the lead stayed at 36-34.
Emilee Fox came down the court and laid it in to tie the game back up at 36-36.
Fox continued the Jackrabbit run when she hit the Jackrabbits’ first three of the game to give them a 40-36 lead.
Colbeck was fouled again, and this time she went to the line and made both, extending the lead to six points.
The Jacks and Bison then traded buckets, putting the score at 44-38.
The last score of the quarter was a Lenz three to cut the lead to 44-41 going into the fourth.
Colbeck came out firing in the fourth quarter for the Jacks, scoring four straight to give SDSU a 48-41 lead.
NDSU fired back with a 4-0 run of their own, including Lenz’s fourth three-pointer of the game.
The Jacks put together another 4-0 run after this with buckets from Meyer and Mathiowetz, pushing the lead back to 52-45.
Koenen brought the Bison back within five after a bucket, but Meyer answered to make the score 54-47.
After another Meyer bucket and two NDSU scores, the game sat at 56-51.
After a made free throw from Colbeck and Behrens, the Jacks held a 58-51 lead.
With less than a minute left and time running out for the Bison, they fouled Mathiowetz, who knocked down both free throws and gave the jacks a 60-51 lead.
Meyer intercepted an NDSU inbound following the free throws and she was fouled.
Meyer stepped to the line with the Jackrabbit crowd chanting MVP and knocked down both free throws to extend the SDSU lead.
The Jacks hit two more free throws to seal the game and took a 64-51 win to claim their fourth Summit League Tournament Championship in a row.
The Jacks will now look ahead to the NCAA tournament as they punched their ticket today with the win.
