South Dakota State women rout St. Thomas in first meeting with new Summit League foe

SDSU guard Paige Meyer (left) and Myah Selland bring the ball up the floor during Thursday night's Summit League win over St. Thomas at Frost Arena.
SDSU guard Paige Meyer (left) and Myah Selland bring the ball up the floor during Thursday night's Summit League win over St. Thomas at Frost Arena.

BROOKINGS – Welcome to Frost Arena, St. Thomas.

The Summit League’s newest member, in its first year jumping from Division III to Division I, the Tommies took on perennial power South Dakota State on Thursday night and for a quarter they hung in there.

Then the Jackrabbits toughened up.

Leading 19-18 after one, SDSU opened the second quarter on a 15-0 run and ended up holding St. Thomas to nine made field goals in the final three quarters, after they’d made eight in the first. The Jacks shot a blistering 65.5 percent from the floor and made 10-of-14 from 3-point land to batter the Tommies 88-47 in front of 1,220 fans.

Myah Selland had 16 points and eight assists, helping to spearhead a second quarter in which the Jacks made 10-of-11 shots and scored 26 of their points. The defense was nearly as good, holding St. Thomas (6-11, 3-4) to 6-of-25 shooting across the second and third quarters. SDSU scored nearly as many points in the paint (42) and off the bench (38) as the Tommies did in total.

“Our defensive intensity picked up in the second quarter and we started getting stops, which led to better looks offensively,” Selland said. “I think we’ve been working really hard on offense with our plan and our spacing, and we have a lot of girls who put a lot of time into their shooting, and it’s fun to see that pay off.”

The Jacks (11-8) improve to 7-1 in Summit League play with their third win in a row.

The Tommies, even with a roster largely made up of players recruited to play in Division III, came in at .500 in league play, so the Jacks were not about to overlook them.

“They’ve been playing really well this year,” said SDSU’s Kallie Theisen, who had nine points off the bench. “They’re fast-paced and physical, so we were expecting a good match-up. It didn’t exactly start the way we wanted it to but I thought we were able to turn it around and do a good job.”

Jade Hill of St. Thomas tries to dribble into the lane during Thursday's Summit League game against SDSU at Frost Arena.
Jade Hill of St. Thomas tries to dribble into the lane during Thursday's Summit League game against SDSU at Frost Arena.

Erin Norling had 18 points for St. Thomas, while Jade Hill added 10 points and five assists.

Tylee Irwin had 16 points for SDSU and Haleigh Timmer had 11.

“We played exceptionally well offensively that first quarter,” said coach Aaron Johnston, whose team hosts Western Illinois Saturday. “Then as the game went on I thought our defense settled in, and as we got into our bench we were able to wear them down a little bit and just kept the pressure on them. It was a really consistent, exceptional offensive game and I thought really good defense for three quarters.”

Men pull away late in St. Paul

The SDSU men got all they could handle from St. Thomas in the first meeting between the teams as Summit League foes on Thursday in St. Paul, with the Jackrabbits needing a late rally to secure the 92-77 win. SDSU improves to 7-0 in Summit League play with the win. The Tommies fall to 2-3 (8-9).

Alex Arians had 20 points and eight rebounds to lead the SDSU attack, as the Jacks shot 64 percent from the floor, 55 percent from 3 and 91 percent at the line. Baylor Scheierman had 15 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists, while Zeke Mayo added 15 points, Doug Wilson 14 and Matt Mims 10.

The Jacks trailed most of the night, but closed the game on a 20-5 run. Ryan Lindberg had 18 points to lead the Tommies, who took most of their shots from outside, going 14-of-34 from long distance (41 percent).

SDSU will visit Western Illinois on Saturday.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: South Dakota State women rout St. Thomas in first meeting