Summit League Preview: South Dakota State Women at North Dakota
It's time to renew old acquaintances for South Dakota State in week four of the 2019 Summit League schedule.
Friday (January 18), the Jackrabbits (12-6/4-1) Summit League) and North Dakota play as conference foes for the first time since they were both members of the North Central Conference back in 2004.
The Fighting Hawks (8-10/3-2 Summit League) have won five of their last seven in their first season since coming over from the Big Sky Conference.
Sophomore forward Lexi Klabo is one of the up and coming stars in the Summit. She leads the conference in scoring (20 points per game), is second on in blocked shots (9) and is third in rebounding (nine per game). Last time out, she scored 27 points on 10-of-18 shooting and pulled down 11 rebounds against Western Illinois.
As a team, the Fighting Hawks lead the Summit League in rebounding (39 per game) and blocked shots and are second in free throws made and opponents' three-point shooting (32%).
Tipoff is 7:00 PM, Friday in Grand Forks
North Dakota is coached by former SDSU assistant Travis Brewster, who's now in his seventh season leading the UND program.
Last week, the Jackrabbits were home for the first time in conference play this season.
They began the week with a 76-59 win over Denver.
SDSU scored the first seven points of the game, but then the Pioneers hit the offensive glass and forced eight first-quarter turnovers while going on a 10-0 run of their own.
The Jackrabbits countered with the first 11 points of the second quarter and never looked back, holding Denver to just 31 percent shooting in the first half.
South Dakota State blew the game open in the third thanks to points inside and offensive rebounding.
On the evening, the Jackrabbits retrieved 17 of their own misses, which translated to 17 second-chance points. Myah Selland had eight of those offensive rebounds on her own.
Selland and Macy Miller led the SDSU scoring with 18 points each.
The Jackrabbits finished the home sweep with a 68-55 win over Oral Roberts.
After a back and forth first quarter the SDSU defense took over, holding the Golden Eagles to 30 percent first half shooting, including a 1-of-6 start to the second quarter.
SDSU grabbed 11 of their 21 offensive rebounds in the first half. Myah Selland finished the day with six offensive boards and a game-high 19 points.
The Jackrabbits won despite their worst shooting performance (22-of-66, 33.3%) in the last 13 games.
I talked with SDSU head coach Aaron Johnston about last week's games and the match-up with North Dakota: