Jacks make key road trip to Oakland

A winner in eight of its last nine games, including three straight, the South Dakota State University women's basketball team will attempt to stay atop The Summit League Saturday afternoon, when it travels to Oakland (Mich.) for its first game in the month of February.
Tipoff is slated for 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time (2:30 p.m. Central) at the Athletics Center O'Rena on the Oakland University campus in Rochester, Mich.
SDSU enters the matchup with a 14-6 overall record, including a 7-2 mark in The Summit League. The Jackrabbits come into the weekend tied for the league lead with Western Illinois (9-11, 7-2) following their best month of the season, going 7-1 in January.
Oakland is a game back in the standings after posting a 13-6 overall record and 6-3 record through the first half of Summit League play.

THE SERIES: Saturday's game will mark the second meeting between SDSU and Oakland in women's basketball. The Jackrabbits drew first blood in the series with an 81-71 victory at Frost Arena on Jan. 7.

ONLINE COVERAGE: Audio coverage of Saturday's game is scheduled to be available via subscription service through GoJacks.com.
Monthly subscriptions for the Jackrabbit Extra, which includes live audio streaming, as well as Aaron Johnston's weekly coach's show, are available for $9.95 per month or $99.95 for an entire year of coverage. An audio-only subscription also is available for $4.95 per month, with programming consisting only of live radio broadcasts.
Video of all Jackrabbit home games, as well as Saturday's road game at Oakland, is available either on a pay-per-view basis or yearly subscription through the Summit League web site (www.thesummitleague.org).
Local radio coverage begins approximately 20 minutes before tipoff on KJJQ 910 AM, with Scotty Kwas calling the play-by-play.
Action photos of Jackrabbit games also will be posted online throughout the season and made available for purchase under the “Photos” heading at GoJacks.com.

SIGHTS ON THE SUMMIT: South Dakota State begins another new era this season as it begins play in the 10-team Summit League (formerly the Mid-Continent Conference). Teams began playing a double round-robin schedule in early December.
The Jackrabbits were picked to finish third in the league based on a poll involving the league's coaches, sports information directors and select media despite receiving the most first-place votes. Defending conference tournament champion Oral Roberts (Okla.) was tabbed the league favorite, followed by 2006-07 regular season champion Oakland (Mich.).
Individually, junior forward Jennifer Warkenthien was named to the Summit League Preseason All-Conference Second Team.

IN TRANSITION: The 2007-08 season marks the final year of a four-year transition process toward reclassification of the Jackrabbit athletics program from NCAA Division II to full Division I status. By meeting annual criteria outlined by the NCAA, SDSU will be eligible for NCAA postseason competition during the 2008-09 season.

FIRST MEETING: Andrea Verdegan poured in a career-high 21 points as the South Dakota State University women's basketball team posted its fourth consecutive victory, 81-71, over Summit league co-leader Oakland (Mich.) Jan. 7 at Frost Arena.
The Jackrabbits made a season-high 11 three-pointers as they also extended their home-court winning streak to 15.
For the third consective game, SDSU never trailed. The Jackrabbits jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first two minutes, capped by Verdegan's first of four three-pointers. With Oakland turnovers continuing to pile up, SDSU further distanced itself from the defending regular season league champions with another burst that put the Jackrabbits up by 18, 32-14, at the 7:38 mark on a Stacie Oistad three-pointer.
After Oakland whittled the deficit down to eight, 35-27, with 3:12 remaining, the Jackrabbits closed the first half with an 11-3 run. Kristin Rotert came off the bench to sandwich a pair of three-pointers around a Morgan Meier triple and two Ashlea Muckenhirn free throws. Rotert's second three-pointer of the run came with eight seconds remaining and gave the Jackrabbits a 46-30 halftime advantage.
The Jackrabbits shot 50 percent from the field in the first half, including 8-of-15 from three-point range.
SDSU continued to shoot the ball well in the second half as it led by as many as 20 points on three different occasions.
Only once in the second half did Oakland get back to within single digits. Melissa Jeltema's two free throws with 4:33 left in the game pulled the Golden Grizzlies to within nine, 72-63. Verdegan then answered with a layup and Ketty Cornemann added a traditional three-point play two possessions later to end any hopes of an Oakland comeback.
Maria Boever added 12 points, while Rotert scored all 10 of her points in the first half. All 10 players to play for the Jackrabbits scored.
SDSU finished the game 28-of-58, 48.3 percent, and made 11-of-27 three-point attempts. The Jackrabbits also converted 14-of-21 free throw attempts.
Jessica Pike, the second-leading scorer in the Summit League, led Oakland with 18 points. Hanna Reising and Melissa Jeltema added 14 and 12 points, respectively.
The top shooting team in the league, Oakland ended the night at 50 percent from the field, 27-of-54, including 4-of-8 from three-point range. At the line, the Golden Grizzlies made 13-of-19 tries, 68.4 percent.
The Jackrabbits won the battle of the boards, 36-29, with Jennifer Warkenthien pulling down a game-high eight boards for SDSU. Reising tallied five rebounds to lead Oakland.

THINK PINK: South Dakota State, in conjunction with the Women's Basketball Coaches Association and The Summit League, will participate in the Think Pink promotion when the Jackrabbits host IUPUI on Feb. 11.
In its second year, Think Pink is an initiative to raise breast cancer awareness in women's basketball, on campuses and in communities. Additionally, the NCAA is implementing the “Calling for a Cure” campaign, where all NCAA women's basketball officials will be blowing a pink whistle Feb. 8-17.

700 WINS: The Jackrabbits' victory over Missouri on Nov. 18 was the 700th in the women's basketball program's history. Since the modern era of women's basketball at South Dakota State University began with a 6-0 mark during the 1966-67 season, the Jackrabbits have gone on to compile an overall record of 710-329 (.683 winning percentage).

VERDEGAN MOVING ON UP: Senior guard Andrea Verdegan played in her 100th career collegiate game Jan. 5 versus IPFW.
A starter in 79 of 106 career games, Verdegan is moving up the career charts in several categories during her senior season. With four three-pointers against Oakland (Mich.) on Jan. 7, Verdegan upped her career total to 131, breaking a tie with Gwen Greiner (127 from 1998-2001) for 11th place on the career three-point chart and also passing Shannon Schlagel (129 from 2002-05) for 10th place and Brooke Dickmeyer (130 from 2002-05) for the ninth spot. She enters Saturday's game with 136 career three-pointers, needing seven to pass Rachel Halsrud (142 three-pointers from 1992-95) for eighth place.
Verdegan became the 14th player in Jackrabbit history to record 300 career assists, reaching the milestone Jan. 12 at IUPUI with a five-assist effort. Her career total now stands at 315, putting her in 12th place. Verdegan also has moved into 13th place in career steals, entering the week with 168.

DOUBLE DUTY: Maria Boever took over the team lead in double-doubles with her second of the season Jan. 14 in a losing effort at Western Illinois, tallying 11 points and 10 rebounds. Boever posted her first career double-double with 15 points and a career-high 12 rebounds in a home victory over IPFW on Jan. 5.
Senior center Courtney Grimsrud turned in the first double-double performance by a Jackrabbit player this season ? and second of her career ? with 14 points and 12 rebounds against UC Riverside on Nov. 11.
Sophomore Ketty Cornemann posted the team's second double-double of the season with a 15-point, 11-rebound performance against Southern Illinois on Nov. 24. Cornemann's 11 rebounds were a career high as she tallied double digits in scoring for the fifth time in six games.

BLOCKED BY GRIMSRUD: The 2006-07 Division I Independent Defensive Player of the Year, Courtney Grimsrud notched her 100th career blocked shot in the game at North Dakota State on Jan. 26. Grimsrud currently stands fifth on the SDSU career blocked shots chart with 101, passing Tara Tessier (97 blocks from 1985-88) with a pair at Western Illinois on Jan. 14.
Lora Kluis (1995-98) and Sarita DeBoer (2002-05) are tied for third place on the career list with 108.
Grimsrud had her streak of nine consecutive games with a blocked shot snapped at IUPUI on Jan. 12.

WINNING RECORD: Since moving up to the NCAA Division I ranks at the start of the 2004-05 season, the Jackrabbits have posted a winning record against D-I opponents. Now in its fourth season competing at the Division I level, SDSU has compiled a 61-28 mark (.685 winning percentage) versus D-I opposition. The Jackrabbits have posted victories over 41 different Division I teams representing 16 conferences plus independents.

TOUGH AT HOME: SDSU's loss to Marquette on Dec. 31, 2006, was a rarity during the Aaron Johnston era. In his seven seasons as Jackrabbit head coach, Johnston has led the Jackrabbits to a 96-11 record (.897 winning percentage) at Frost Arena, including winning 38 of their last 40 home games.
Since the start of the 2001-02 season, SDSU has an 85-6 home record, losing just one game at Frost Arena each full season. SDSU was 14-1 last season at Frost Arena, extending its home-court winning streak to 15 games before the loss to Marquette (Wis.) on Dec. 31, 2006.
The Jackrabbits have since won their last 17 home games, completing an undefeated slate during the 2007 calendar year. SDSU's 17-game home winning streak currently ranks in a tie with three other schools ? Georgia, Old Dominion (Va.) and Wyoming ? for the second-longest active streak in Division I. Hartford (Conn.) holds the longest streak at 18.

FRONT RUNNERS: The Jackrabbits have put together a streak of 46 consecutive wins in games in which they have held a halftime lead.
The streak began Jan. 2, 2006, when SDSU won at Idaho State, 82-70, a game it led 44-28 at the break. Starting then, the Jackrabbits won the final 11 games of the 2005-06 season it led at halftime, all 21 games during the 2006-07 season, and all 14 victories so far this season have come with SDSU holding the lead after the first 20 minutes of play.
The last time SDSU lost a game it led at halftime was on Dec. 21, 2005, at Marquette (Wis.). The Golden Eagles turned a 32-29 deficit into a 67-55 victory in Milwaukee.
SDSU has led at the half in all 14 victories this season and trailed or been tied at the break in all six defeats.

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