No. 2 South Dakota State earned another trip to the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament in beating No. 1 North Dakota State in the championship game of the 2026 Summit League Women’s Basketball Championships, 64-51.
Both teams came out ready to score quickly, as the scoring was back and forth for the first few minutes. A couple of empty Bison possessions near the end of the quarter allowed the Jacks to finish the first frame with a 16-12 lead behind eight points from Brooklyn Meyer. Abby Krzewinski was NDSU’s leading scorer in the first.
Former Freshman of the Year and North Dakota-transfer Jocie Schiller drained a triple out of the break to cut the lead to one. The Bison were held scoreless for nearly eight minutes in the second quarter. Marisa Frost netted another Bison three-pointer at the buzzer to cut the lead to four. The Jacks led 31-27 going into the locker room.
NDSU got within one to start the third, but Meyer came up with two consecutive Jackrabbit blocks to get the ball back after an empty possession. The Bison regained the lead, 34-32, after three SDSU turnovers in the first four minutes. After the media break, SDSU regained the lead on a much-needed Emilee Fox triple. Hadley Thul then dropped a back-door layup and NDSU Coach Jory Collins called a timeout with one minute remaining in the third. Out of the timeout, Molly Lenz netted a triple for the Bison to bring them within three.
With five minutes left, the score was 48-45 in SDSU’s favor. NDSU junior and Player of the Year, Avery Koenen, was whistled for her third foul, while SDSU’s Meyer also had three. SDSU stretched the lead to seven with four minutes left in the contest, bringing the mostly blue crowd to its feet. Two Koenen free throws cut the lead back to five with just three minutes to go. Foul shots from Meyer extended the Jackrabbit lead again. Karrington Asp forced contact on a made layup to earn a trip to the line. While she failed to execute, SDSU lost the rebound out of bounds.
Ellie Colbeck went one-for-one on her foul shots to put SDSU up 57-51 with 47 seconds left. SDSU stole the inbound pass for the second time in two minutes and went back to the line after a foul. NDSU sent a baseline pass sailing out of bounds to give SDSU the ball. After the third inbound pass was stolen and Meyer went to the line, SDSU had a 62-51 lead. Behrens went to the line shortly after and drained two more to seal SDSU’s 13th Summit League Women’s Basketball Championship.
The Jacks were led by Meyer’s 26 points and nine rebounds. Thul added 10 points and Hilary Behrens pulled down eight rebounds.
The Bison were led by Koenen and Lenz with 12 points apiece. Koenen added 13 rebounds for a double-double, and Asp tallied 10 points.
The Jackrabbits secured the automatic bid and will await their seed in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament, to be revealed on March 15th at 7pm C.T.
The Bison finish their historic season 28-4 overall, with losses only to Gonzaga, Nebraska, and South Dakota State (2).