Stop me when you’ve heard this before; the Jackrabbit men and women are both one win away from the big dance. Both teams let the South Dakota State fans breathe easy for most of the game. The women won by 19, the men won by 23, and there was really never any doubt.
The Jackrabbit women started off a little slow with a new Oral Roberts lineup but once the second quarter started, it was the beginning of the end. SDSU held ORU scoreless for the last 5:41 in the second quarter. SDSU only allowed six total points in the second quarter as well. The balanced attack from the Jackrabbits with four women in double figures was too much for ORU.
Myah Selland showed why she is one of the best players in the Summit League by scoring 16 points with eight rebounds. With a win and a good performance, she could very easily win the player of the tournament award. Haileigh Timmer scored 12 points off the bench and was also a big factor that led to the 72-53 win. She has had an ever changing role this season coming off the bench but she has been a big contributor this tournament and will need a repeat performance against the Coyotes
Similar to the SDSU women, the Jackrabbit men dominated USD in a 83-60 win. USD started the game with a three point jumper from Mason Archambault but fell behind shortly after. SDSU rallied around the heavy Jackrabbit crowd to leave USD stunned and down 55-30 at half.
Doug Wilson led the Jacks with 21 points and 8 rebounds while Baylor Scheierman had 18 points and 3 assists. Luke Appel and Matt Dentlinger both provided a strong defensive presence off the bench. Luke had 8 defensive rebounds and 8 points while Matt Dentlinger had 6 points and one block, one steals, and one rebound.
The other big story on the night for the Jackrabbit men was Zeke Mayo! Zeke was looking for a stage to show he should have won the freshman of the year award and he did just that. Zeke scored 13 points on 5-9 shooting and went 3-4 from three! On the other side of the ball Charlie Ealeys contributions go much deeper than the box score. Charlie is taking major defensive responsibilities and he has done it without fouling. To beat the Bison, the Jackrabbits will need Charlie and Zeke to step up and play a huge role again.
Speaking of championships, did I mention we have two chances? The women will face familiar foe USD, a team they’ve played four times in the past two years and have gone 3-1. While the Paige Meyer injury isn’t ideal, the Jacks have beaten the Coyotes with this lineup and they can do it again. There should be no reason the Jacks don’t go into this game without the confidence to take the crown after giving it up last season.
For the men, they also face a familiar foe. SDSU and NDSU are the two teams that have dominated this tournament. Will the SDSU team that controlled the game from start to finish in Fargo show up or the team that had the worst 3 point shooting game in school history in Brookings show up? Either way SDSU has taken NDSU’s best shots this season, can they do it a third time? If the Jacks play with the energy and the offense they have the past two games, they should be walking away with the crown. If they go cold on offense and don’t show up defensively it could be a long night for the Jackrabbits.
It is a great time to be a Jackrabbit fan and will hopefully lead to two great games with two more summit league championships and trips to the NCAA tournament.
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