Jacks on Top! South Dakota State WBB Wins 12th Summit Title

The South Dakota State Jackrabbits came out firing on all cylinders Sunday afternoon in the Summit League Tournament Championship and finished strong to claim their 12th Tournament Title.

The Jackrabbits now await the selection show this coming Sunday to find out their NCAA Tournament path.

Per GoJacks.com:

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Paige Meyer led a trio of 20-point scorers for the Jackrabbits, finishing with 26 points and a championship-game record nine assists to earn her second straight Tournament MVP honors. Haleigh Timmer added 21 points and Madison Mathiowetz chipped in 20 to help the Jackrabbits hold off the Golden Eagles.

Meyer, Timmer and Mathiowetz paced the SDSU offense, but Brooklyn Meyer and Mesa Byom held down the defensive end. Meyer finished with 15 rebounds to go with her 10 points for her second straight double-double. Byom grabbed 13 rebounds and posted three blocks and two steals. Byom also dished four assists.

Timmer set the tone early, opening the game with back-to-back triples and scored the first eight points for the Jackrabbits, who raced out to an early 11-2 advantage. Paige Meyer also had back-to-back three-pointers in the opening quarter as SDSU went 5-for-8 while the Golden Eagles misfired on their four attempts and went just 4-for-19 from the field overall. ORU would get a three-point play from Jones to close it out and cut the deficit back to single digits at 19-10.

ORU carried the momentum into the second quarter, opening that stanza on a 13-2 run. Jones tied things at 21-21 with a baseline jumper and Uduomoh sank a pair of free throws at the 5:48 mark to give the Golden Eagles their first advantage of the contest. That was short-lived, however, as Mathiowetz drilled her second three-pointer of the game and Meyer followed with a driving layup to give SDSU the lead right back. Those two baskets started a flurry of offense for the Jacks over the closing five minutes as they made 9-of-11 from the field down the stretch to take a 46-36 lead into halftime. Mathiowetz had 10 second-quarter points, including seven in that closing stretch but Emily Robinson hit a pair of three-pointers to help combat that strong finish by the Jacks, who scored 22 points in the final 5:00.

Mathiowetz added seven quick points out of the halftime break and had SDSU up 56-41 following a pair of free throws but ORU would not go away. The Golden Eagles rattled off eight straight points over just a minute of game action to close that gap to seven. ORU had trimmed the deficit down to five but the Jacks scored the last five points of the quarter to push their lead back to double figures at 65-55 going into the final quarter. SDSU's lead never got below nine in the final 10 minutes as they outscored ORU 19-13 to claim their third straight tournament title.

Paige Meyer, Brooklyn Meyer, and Haleigh Timmer were all named to the all-tournament team, with Paige Meyer winning the tournament MVP.

Source: GoJacks.com