The Jacks will move on to the second round of the Summit League Tournament following a 75-61 win over the Kansas City Roos.
Head coach Aaron Johnston says he still knows there is improvement to be made.
“I thought we played really well in stretches,” Johnston said. “In the first half we played great defensively … in the second half we were pretty good early, but as the half wore on, we just lost our edge.”
For SDSU, two seniors led the way. Brooklyn Meyer had 26 points and nine rebounds on the game to lead the team in both categories.
Madison Mathiowetz contributed 18 points, six rebounds and four assists on the day. Mathiowetz shot 7-15 from the field, including 2-4 from deep and went a perfect 2-2 from the line.
For the Roos, the Bennett sisters, Elauni and Emani, led the way, both scoring 15 points. Elauni shot 7-9 from the floor while also grabbing nine rebounds. Emani shot 6-20 from the field and 3-7 from behind the arc in a team-high 39 minutes of gameplay.
The two teams started fast with Mathiowetz hitting a mid-range jumper to start, followed by Kansas City’s Emani Bennett tying the score at 2-2 after a layup.
Mathiowetz responded right back with a three to take the lead 5-2. Following this, the two teams had a hard time finding the bottom of the net.
The Jacks eventually broke the seal when Brooklyn Meyer got in the paint for a bucket to extend the lead to 7-2. This score opened the floodgates as the Jacks went on to score six straight before the Roos finally got on the board again with a free throw
With the Jacks leading 14-3, Emilee Fox found herself open in the corner and splashed a three to extend the lead. After another Kansas City score, the Jacks headed into the second up 17-5.
Starting the second quarter, the two teams traded buckets to put the score at 19-7.
Following that, Meyer got an offensive rebound and put it back up to extend the Jackrabbit lead.
Mathiowetz then kept the Jacks rolling with a mid-range jumper to make it 23-7.
After a quick 4-0 surge by the Roos, SDSU turned it up. Meyer got in the paint and laid the ball in. Then, freshman guard Hadley Thul hit a pull-up jump shot.
Thul showed she can do it on the other end too, as she got a steal, which ignited a transition three by redshirt freshman guard Mahli Abdouch to push the lead to 30-11.
Head coach Aaron Johnston talked after the game about Thul’s impact.
“Hadley’s been fantastic,” Johnston said. “You saw what she can do both offensively and defensively. She’s an elite defensive play and she gives us a lot of flexibility for what we do defensively.”
After a few more buckets by the two teams, SDSU went into halftime leading 32-15.
The third half started with a lot of action. Mathiowetz scored a quick two, followed by the Roos making their first three of the game. Mathiowetz responded with three of her own.
Kansas City’s Zaire Harrel came down the court and knocked down another three for the Roos to cut the score to 37-21.
The Roos then converted and cut the lead to just 13 points.
Meyer returned the favor, getting fouled and putting it in. Mathiowetz then found Meyer cutting down the lane for an easy lay-up to extend the lead back to 42-24.
With the Jacks up 44-30, Meyer scored five straight points, looking like the Jacks had all the momentum.
Kansas City responded with back-to-back jumpers, one from deep to pull back within 14, trailing 49-35. This forced the Jacks to call a timeout.
Coming out of the timeout, the Jacks looked reenergized. Meyer scored with a layup, followed by Thul blocking a shot and ending it with a fast break layup.
Next time down the floor, Mathiowetz pulled up near the free throw line in transition and knocked it down to put the Jacks back up 20.
After a Thul three to close the quarter, the Jacks took a 58-37 lead into the fourth.
The Jacks held a 66-43 lead with just over six minutes left in the fourth, but the Bennett sisters for Kansas City wouldn’t go down without a fight.
The Bennetts went on a run, outscoring the Jacks 17-5, bringing the score to 71-60. Emani contributed two of the points on the run, while the rest of the points came from Elauni.
The Jacks called a timeout to regroup and went on to win over Kansas City with a final score of 75-61.
The Jacks will now face the winner of the USD versus Denver game. That game will be played tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. SDSU will take on USD or Denver late Saturday afternoon.
