South Dakota State women's basketball hangs on to beat Mississippi State

BROOKINGS – South Dakota State made only one 3-pointer all night Monday against Mississippi State. It was a big one.

The Jackrabbits spent much of the game playing with a lead over the SEC’s Bulldogs, but were never able to pull away. After MSU had erased a 9-point SDSU lead midway through the third quarter to pull even at 44 apiece, the Jacks, again, answered back.

And after a pair of buckets stretched the lead back to four, Haleigh Timmer drained a 3 just before the third quarter buzzer to put the home team back up by seven, and the Jacks held on for a 63-62 win in front of 1,787 Frost Arena fans.

It wasn’t quite as tense as the 1-point deficit would indicate; SDSU missed four straight free throws in the final minute, and the Bulldogs drained a long 3 at the buzzer.

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But close or not, any win over a power conference team that’s only four years removed from a 33-win, Elite Eight season, is a good one.

“These are the games you want to play in, the teams you want to play against,” said point guard Dru Gylten, who had six assists in 20 minutes off the bench. “I’m just proud of our team and how we kind of stayed consistent. We didn’t get too high or too low, emotionally, and just played our game.”

The Jacks committed 21 turnovers, an ugly number but one that could be fairly chalked up to the size and athleticism MSU had and used to cause problems with a full-court press. SDSU also missed 13 of 27 free throws – that was less forgivable, but SDSU’s strong offensive play in the paint and their impressive rebounding made up for it.

SDSU shot 49 percent from the floor for the game, and despite a noted size disadvantage, held a 45-29 edge on the boards that included 14 offensive rebounds.

“I think we did a really good job of staying connected,” said Myah Selland, who had 18 points and 10 rebounds to lead SDSU (2-1). “I thought all five of us on the floor had a good idea of what our plan was and what we wanted to get done. We knew rebounding would be really important for us and in the first half when we got rebounds we got really good looks in transition.”

Timmer had 11 points while Paiton Burckhard and Kallie Theisen had eight apiece.

Debreasha Powe and Anastasia Hayes had 15 points each for the Bulldogs (2-1), with Powe adding 10 rebounds. Asianae Johnson added 12 points and Jerkaila Jordan 10. MSU shot just 38 percent from the floor and made 7-of-27 from 3-point range.

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“I thought we defended so much better today than we did our first two games,” said coach Aaron Johnston. “Our perimeter players really stepped up and were much more confident in their defense. They deserve a lot of credit for how they defended. In our first game of the year (a loss to Creighton) we were tied late and that one got away from us because we didn’t make plays. Here, we did. The winning mentality was there on offense and defense.”

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: South Dakota State women's basketball beats Mississippi State