Completed Event: Women's Basketball versus No. 6 Washington on March 20, 2026 , Loss , 54, to, 72
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FINAL
Women's Basketball
54
vs No. 6 Washington
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South Dakota State University Athletics
SDSU women begin road swing at Minnesota
12/8/2008 1:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
After sweeping the first Summit League series of the season last weekend, the South Dakota State University women's basketball team returns to non-conference action Tuesday by traveling to Minnesota.
Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at Williams Arena on the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis.
Both teams enter the matchup with 8-1 overall records and are receiving votes in this week's Associated Press poll. The host Golden Gophers have won eight consecutive games since a season-opening loss Nov. 14 at Stanford (Calif.).
SDSU, meanwhile, is on a four-game winning streak since its lone loss of the season, Nov. 26 against Maryland at the Caribbean Challenge MTE in Cancun, Mexico. The Jackrabbits opened Summit League play Dec. 4 with a 63-41 victory over Centenary (La.), then finished off the homestand with a 76-52 win against Oral Roberts (Okla.).
THE SERIES: Tuesday's game will mark the fifth meeting between SDSU and Minnesota in women's basketball.
Dating back to the AIAW days, South Dakota State leads the series 3-1. SDSU opened the series with 46-42 victory during the 1974-75 season and followed with a 49-38 win during the 1975-76 campaign.
Minnesota defeated the Jackrabbits, 81-56, during the 1977-78 season.
The two schools did not meet again until the 2006-07 season, when the Jackrabbits pulled out a 59-58 victory at Williams Arena on Jan. 14, 2007.
VERSUS THE BIG TEN: The Jackrabbits have enjoyed success against Big Ten Conference both this season and throughout their five-year history of playing at the Division I level.
SDSU already has defeated two Big Ten opponents this season, downing Wisconsin, 64-44, on Nov. 17 and posting a 62-60 come-from-behind victory over Illinois on Nov. 27 at the Caribbean Challenge MTE in Cancun, Mexico.
Since beginning the transition from NCAA Division II to Division I at the start of the 2004-05 season, the Jackrabbits have gone 5-2 against Big Ten opponents.
JACKRABBITS ONLINE: Audio coverage of Tuesday's game is scheduled to be available via subscription service at GoJacks.com, the official website of SDSU athletics. Monthly subscriptions for the Jackrabbit Extra, which includes live audio and video streaming of select Jackrabbit basketball games, 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.
A league-wide video streaming package is available through The Summit League at www.thesummitleague.org.
Local radio coverage begins on the Jackrabbit Radio Network at 6:30 p.m. Tyler Merriam will call the play-by-play. Brookings-based KJJQ 910 AM will serve as the flagship station of the network, with coverage of the games also available on Yankton-based WNAX 570 AM, KSDR 1480 AM in Watertown and KWOA 730 AM in Worthington, Minn.
HOMECOMING: Five Jackrabbit players will return to their home state for Tuesday's game: Alison Anderson (New Richland), Maria Boever (Worthington), Macie Michelson (Lynd/Marshall H.S.), Stacie Oistad (Sartell) and Jennie Sunnarborg (Osseo).
Boever (illness) and Michelson (injury) likely will be sidelined for the Minnesota game. Boever has missed the last two games, while Michelson has been out of the lineup since being injured in practice before the Nov. 23 game against Oregon.
TRANSITION OVER: The NCAA Division I Management Council Administrative Committee, acting on behalf of the DI Management Council, announced in late June that South Dakota State University has met the requirements to become an active member of NCAA Division I, starting at the beginning of the 2008-09 academic year.
Previously a member of Division II, SDSU successfully completed the five-year process of moving its athletics programs to comply with Division I membership requirements. Requirements include compliance with Division I rules for the final four years, meeting minimum financial aid and contest scheduling limits, engaging in a rules compliance review and successfully completing the athletics certification process.
SDSU officials submitted an extensive self-study to the NCAA in the spring of 2007 and a peer-review team completed the study during a campus visit in October 2007.
LAST MEETING WITH MINNESOTA: Maria Boever scored on a layup as time expired to lift South Dakota State to a 59-58 victory over Minnesota on Jan. 14, 2007, before a crowd of 7,568 at Williams Arena in Minneapolis.
SDSU trailed by seven points with 6 minutes, 20 seconds remaining in the game and held Minnesota without a field goal for the final 5:05. Trailing 55-48, Jennifer Warkenthien made 1-of-2 free throws, and after SDSU grabbed the rebound, Andrea Verdegan sank her fifth three-pointer of the game to pull the Jackrabbits to within three.
Still playing catchup, SDSU made it a one-point game at the 2:40 mark on a three-pointer by Warkenthien and later took the lead at 57-56 on a basket in the lane by Megan Vogel with 1:35 remaining.
Minnesota missed a couple scoring opportunities but forced a pair of Jackrabbit turnovers to regain possession. With 3.5 seconds left, Ashley Ellis-Milan forced Vogel's fifth foul and made both free throws to put the Golden Gophers up 58-57.
The Jackrabbits' long inbound pass was knocked out of bounds at half court, and after a timeout, Warkenthien found Verdegan on the left baseline. The junior guard moved past a Minnesota defender and found Boever open on the right block. The play was reviewed for about three minutes before the officials ruled that the shot left Boever's hand before the red light on the basket came on, giving SDSU the one-point victory. (Note: An officials' supervisor later ruled the game officials did not follow proper replay procedures and that the basket should not have been allowed, but the outcome of the game was not changed).
Neither team held more than a three-point lead through the first 12 minutes of the game before the Jackrabbits went on a 10-2 run to grab a nine-point lead at 27-18. Andrea Verdegan started the run with her third three-pointer of the half and three other Jackrabbits scored baskets.
Minnesota ended the half on a 6-0 run in the final 2:30 of the half as Leslie Knight scored all six Golden Gopher points, including a basket with two seconds left, to make the score 32-29 at the break.
Kelly Roysland fueled Minnesota's second-half run with 13 of her game-high 17 points in the final 20 minutes. Ellis-Milan scored 10 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds as Minnesota won the battle of the boards by a 41-28 count.
Verdegan led SDSU with 15 points, making all five of her three-point attempts, and added six assists. Warkenthien tallied 13 points, with Courtney Grimsrud adding 10 points. Boever finished the game with seven points.
SDSU finished the game 23-of-52 from the field, 44.2 percent, and made half of both their three-point and free-throw attempts, going 10-of-20 on threes and 4-of-8 at the line.
Minnesota shot 41 percent from the field, 22-of-54, including 3-of-11 from three-point range, 27 percent. At the line, the Golden Gophers were 11-of-19, 58 percent.
OPENING SUCCESS: The Jackrabbits' five-point victory at Missouri on Nov. 14 marked the 16th consecutive season SDSU has opened the season with a win.
The last time the Jackrabbits lost a season opener was during the 1992-93 season, when they fell 74-72 to Moorhead State (Minn.).
SDSU's 8-1 record is its best start during the Division I era. The 2006-07 squad opened the season with a 7-2 record en route to a Women's NIT postseason berth, while the 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2007-08 teams all began their seasons with a 6-3 mark.
GETTING NOTICED: The Jackrabbit women's basketball team continues to gain national attention as SDSU moved up the honorable mention list in Monday's Associated Press Division I poll to 27 votes ? its highest vote total ever. Last week, SDSU received 12 votes in the AP poll and 11 in the USA Today/ESPN rankings. This week's USA Today/ESPN poll has not yet been released.
SDSU received one vote in the preseason poll, but dropped out of the list of teams receiving votes after the season opener at Missouri. It marked the second year in a row since moving to NCAA Division I that the Jackrabbits have appeared in a preseason national poll.
SDSU also received votes during the 2006-07 season, reaching a high of five votes after season-opening wins over Middle Tennessee State and Southern California.
The Jackrabbits also were the subject of a feature article that ran on the front page of the women's basketball section at ESPN.com in late November.
LEAGUE FAVORITES: After winning the first outright regular season title in program history last year, the South Dakota State University women's basketball team has been tabbed as the favorite to win The Summit League title during the 2008-09 season.
The Jackrabbits received 23 of 30 first-place votes in the poll conducted by the league's coaches, sports information directors and select media representatives. Oakland (Mich.) was second in the poll with three first-place votes, followed by Oral Roberts (Okla.), which also received three first-place votes. North Dakota State received the final first-place vote.
Individually, Jennifer Warkenthien was selected to repeat on the all-Summit League First Team, while Maria Boever was named to the preseason all-Summit League Second Team.
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. In its first four-plus seasons competing at the Division I level, SDSU has compiled a 78-30 mark (.722 winning percentage) versus D-I opposition. The Jackrabbits have posted victories over 46 different Division I teams representing 16 conferences plus independents.
700 WINS: The Jackrabbits' victory over Missouri on Nov. 18, 2007, 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 Jacks have gone on to compile an overall record of 726-331 (.687 winning percentage).
SDSU has posted 22 consecutive winning seasons. Twelve times over that span the Jackrabbits have won 20 games in a season, including six of eight full seasons under head coach Aaron Johnston.
SDSU's last losing season was an 11-16 campaign during the 1985-86 season.
DEPTH AND BALANCE: The Jackrabbits have had at least two players score in double figures in all nine games so far this season, and eight differen players have tallied double digits for scoring.
Five different players have taken their turn leading the team in scoring, while senior forward Jennifer Warkenthien has been the top scorer in four contests.
A list of double-figure scoring games follows:
Missouri ? Jennifer Warkenthien (15), Jennie Sunnarborg (11)
Wisconsin ? Macie Michelson (11), Stacie Oistad (11)
Utah ? Jill Young (20), Ketty Cornemann (11), Jennifer Warkenthien (11)
Oregon ? Ketty Cornemann (19), Stacie Oistad (14)
Maryland ? Jennifer Warkenthien (17), Maria Boever (10)
Illinois ? Kristin Rotert (26), Maria Boever (11)
Montana ? Jennifer Warkenthien (21), Maria Boever (16), Ketty Cornemann (10)
Centenary ? Jennifer Warkenthien (11), Kristin Rotert (10)
Oral Roberts ? Ketty Cornemann (20), Kristin Rotert (18), Jennifer Warkenthien (15), Jennie Sunnarborg (10)
BENCH POINTS: SDSU's reserves have played a key role in the Jackrabbits' first quarter of the season, outscoring the opponents' bench by a combined 170-81.
Jill Young made her long-awaited collegiate debut Nov. 17 against Wisconsin and made
2-of-4 three-point tries. She followed that performance with a 5-of-7 performance from long range en route to a team-high 20 points against Utah on Nov. 20. The Mitchell native sat out last season ? and the first game this year ? after transferring from Creighton (Neb.), and currently leads the regular reserves with an average of 6.9 points per game.
Although recently moved into the starting lineup due to Maria Boever's illness, Stacie Oistad has been another top SDSU reserve. Oistad, who has been the team's leading scorer off the bench four times this season, keyed a 20-2 Jackrabbit run early in the first half against Wisconsin with a pair of three-pointers en route to sharing game-high honors with 11 points.
SDSU reserves were limited to only three points and were outscored by the opponent's bench, 6-3, for the first time all season in the Caribbean Challenge finale with Montana.
Last season, SDSU reserves combined to score in double figures in 29 of 30 games ? the lone exception an eight-point combination at IUPUI.
LINEUP SHUFFLE: Injuries have forced the Jackrabbits to employ four different starting lineups in the first nine games of the 2008-09 season.
Sophomore point guard Macie Michelson is out indefinitely with a hand injury suffered before the Oregon game. She has been replaced in the starting lineup by fellow sophomore Kristin Rotert. Maria Boever also missed the last two games due to illness and is expected to be sidelined again Tuesday.
Working around injuries is nothing new to the Jackrabbits, who used seven different starting lineups during the 2007-08 after a rash of early season injuries.
DOUBLE DUTY: Forward Jennifer Warkenthien has posted four double-doubles so far this season, running her career total to seven.
Warkenthien brings a streak of three consecutive games with a double-double into Tuesday's matchup at Minnesota. Over the last three games, she is averaging 15.7 points and 15.3 rebounds per game.
Following is a list of Warkenthien's double-doubles this season:
Utah ? 11 points, 13 rebounds
Montana ? 21 points, 18 rebounds
Centenary ? 11 points, 11 rebounds
Oral Roberts ? 15 points, 17 rebounds
Junior Maria Boever narrowly missed a double-double Nov. 17 versus Wisconsin, collecting nine points and 10 rebounds.
WARKENTHIEN COUNTS DOWN TO 1,000: Senior Jennifer Warkenthien is on pace to become the 26th member of the Jackrabbit 1,000-point club this season.
The Willow Lake native enters Saturday's game against Oral Roberts with 928 points ? 72 away from the milestone. Last season, Warkenthien averaged a team-best 13.9 points per game in 23 games, including 19 starts.
A first-team all-Summit League selection during the 2007-08 campaign, Warkenthien posted double figures for scoring 18 times, including five games of 20-plus points.
In addition, Warkenthien is moving up the Jackrabbit career charts in blocked shots. Currently ninth with 73, she trails Angie Loken (76 blocked shots from 1998-2001) by three for the eighth spot.
THREE-POINT BARRAGE: Normally a strong-shooting team from the perimeter, the Jackrabbit women's basketball team struggled from long range in the season opener at Missouri. SDSU made only 1-of-16 three-point attempts in the game, with the only make coming from senior forward Jennifer Warkenthien in the first half.
The Jackrabbits have since rebounded by averaging seven made three-pointers per game over the last eight games, shooting a combined 56-of-170 (32.9 percent) from behind the arc.
Against Wisconsin on Nov. 17, SDSU tallied an 8-of-17 long-range shooting performance, making 6-of-7 attempts in the first half. On Nov. 20 versus Utah, the Jackrabbits drained 11-of-25 three-point tries. SDSU closed out the homestand by making 7-of-24 three-point attempts versus Oregon.
Eight different SDSU players have made a three-pointer this season, led by Ketty Cornemann, who is 14-of-35 (40 percent) from long range. Ashlea Muckenhirn tops the team and Summit League percentage-wise at 56.3 percent (9-of-16).
After starting the season 0-for-16 from three-point range, Kristin Rotert got back on track by going 8-of-18 in the three games at the Caribbean Challenge MTE. She was
4-for-5 on three-point tries versus Illinois.
In its last eight games of the 2007-08 season, SDSU made a combined 84-of-173 three-point attempts, 48.5 percent.
The Jackrabbits closed out the regular season with a season-high 15 treys against Oral Roberts (Okla.) on March 3 ? one of six times SDSU registered double figures in three-pointers made.
In final NCAA statistics, SDSU would have ranked ninth among Division I squads by averaging 7.7 made three-pointers per game and 17th in three-point percentage at 37.1 percent (232-of-625), leading The Summit League in both categories.
Three Jackrabbit players ranked among the top five individually in The Summit League in three-point percentage: Ketty Cornemann ranks first at 44.0 percent (33-of-75), departed senior Andrea Verdegan ranked fourth at 41.3 percent (43-of-104) and Kristin Rotert stood fifth at 41.7 percent (58-of-141).
For the season, the Jackrabbits made 107 more three-pointers than their opponents, 232-125. Eleven different players connected from behind the arc last season, with six making 20 or more from long range.
TOUGH AT HOME: SDSU's loss to Creighton (Neb.) in the first round of the Women's NIT on March 20, 2008, was a rarity during the Aaron Johnston era. In his tenure as Jackrabbit head coach, Johnston has led the Jackrabbits to a 105-12 record (.897
winning percentage) at Frost Arena, including winning 45 of their last 48 home games.
Since the start of the 2001-02 season, SDSU has a 96-7 home record, losing just one game at Frost Arena each full season. SDSU has been 14-1 at home each of the last two full seasons, putting together home-court winning streaks of 15 and 22 in the process. The loss to Creighton snapped a 22-game home winning streak, which was the third-longest active streak in Division I at the time.
The loss to Creighton also put an end to a streak of 54 consecutive wins in games in which the Jackrabbits led at halftime.
SDSU is undefeated at home in Summit League play, posting an 11-0 record at Frost Arena since joining the league in 2007-08. The Jackrabbits have won their home conference games by an average of 24 points
HALFTIME ADJUSTMENTS: Leading at halftime meant little or nothing during the Caribbean Challenge MTE as the team trailing at intermission came back to win all three games involving the Jackrabbits.
SDSU held a one-point lead against Maryland, 25-24, at halftime in the opener, then overcame a 38-25 deficit to Illinois on Nov. 27 and a 35-30 deficit to Montana on Nov. 28.
The Jackrabbits have won all three games in which they have trailed at halftime this season, including the season opener at Missouri. SDSU was behind 24-17 at intermission to the Tigers before rallying for a 55-50 victory.
A season ago, SDSU was 1-6 in games it either was tied or trailed at the half. The lone victory was a 74-72 overtime win at IPFW on Feb. 4, 2008.
HOLIDAY SPIRIT: The South Dakota State University Student-Athlete Advisory Committee will be conducting its annual coat and toy drives through Dec. 17.
Gently used coats and other winter clothing items, as well as new toys and monetary donations will be collected in the foyer of the Stanley J. Marshall HPER Center at all Jackrabbit home basketball games. The donations will be distributed to deserving families in the Brookings area in time for the holidays.
COACH AARON JOHNSTON: Entering his ninth season as head coach of the South Dakota State University women's basketball team, Aaron Johnston has taken the Jackrabbit program to the top of NCAA Division II and has led SDSU through a successful transition into the ranks of Division I.
Johnston enters Tuesday's game with a 201-63 career record (.761 winning percentage). After posting his 200th career victory Dec. 4 against Centenary, Johnston ranks second on the SDSU career victories list. His career totals have included a 15-4 mark (.789 winning percentage) in postseason games.
A LOOK AHEAD: The Jackrabbits will remain in non-conference action for the remainder of the calendar year. SDSU will play at Gonzaga (Wash.) on Dec. 12, with tipoff set for 6 p.m. Pacific Time (8 p.m. Central) in Spokane.
The next SDSU home game is set for Dec. 17 versus UC Davis, starting at 7 p.m.
Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at Williams Arena on the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis.
Both teams enter the matchup with 8-1 overall records and are receiving votes in this week's Associated Press poll. The host Golden Gophers have won eight consecutive games since a season-opening loss Nov. 14 at Stanford (Calif.).
SDSU, meanwhile, is on a four-game winning streak since its lone loss of the season, Nov. 26 against Maryland at the Caribbean Challenge MTE in Cancun, Mexico. The Jackrabbits opened Summit League play Dec. 4 with a 63-41 victory over Centenary (La.), then finished off the homestand with a 76-52 win against Oral Roberts (Okla.).
THE SERIES: Tuesday's game will mark the fifth meeting between SDSU and Minnesota in women's basketball.
Dating back to the AIAW days, South Dakota State leads the series 3-1. SDSU opened the series with 46-42 victory during the 1974-75 season and followed with a 49-38 win during the 1975-76 campaign.
Minnesota defeated the Jackrabbits, 81-56, during the 1977-78 season.
The two schools did not meet again until the 2006-07 season, when the Jackrabbits pulled out a 59-58 victory at Williams Arena on Jan. 14, 2007.
VERSUS THE BIG TEN: The Jackrabbits have enjoyed success against Big Ten Conference both this season and throughout their five-year history of playing at the Division I level.
SDSU already has defeated two Big Ten opponents this season, downing Wisconsin, 64-44, on Nov. 17 and posting a 62-60 come-from-behind victory over Illinois on Nov. 27 at the Caribbean Challenge MTE in Cancun, Mexico.
Since beginning the transition from NCAA Division II to Division I at the start of the 2004-05 season, the Jackrabbits have gone 5-2 against Big Ten opponents.
JACKRABBITS ONLINE: Audio coverage of Tuesday's game is scheduled to be available via subscription service at GoJacks.com, the official website of SDSU athletics. Monthly subscriptions for the Jackrabbit Extra, which includes live audio and video streaming of select Jackrabbit basketball games, 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.
A league-wide video streaming package is available through The Summit League at www.thesummitleague.org.
Local radio coverage begins on the Jackrabbit Radio Network at 6:30 p.m. Tyler Merriam will call the play-by-play. Brookings-based KJJQ 910 AM will serve as the flagship station of the network, with coverage of the games also available on Yankton-based WNAX 570 AM, KSDR 1480 AM in Watertown and KWOA 730 AM in Worthington, Minn.
HOMECOMING: Five Jackrabbit players will return to their home state for Tuesday's game: Alison Anderson (New Richland), Maria Boever (Worthington), Macie Michelson (Lynd/Marshall H.S.), Stacie Oistad (Sartell) and Jennie Sunnarborg (Osseo).
Boever (illness) and Michelson (injury) likely will be sidelined for the Minnesota game. Boever has missed the last two games, while Michelson has been out of the lineup since being injured in practice before the Nov. 23 game against Oregon.
TRANSITION OVER: The NCAA Division I Management Council Administrative Committee, acting on behalf of the DI Management Council, announced in late June that South Dakota State University has met the requirements to become an active member of NCAA Division I, starting at the beginning of the 2008-09 academic year.
Previously a member of Division II, SDSU successfully completed the five-year process of moving its athletics programs to comply with Division I membership requirements. Requirements include compliance with Division I rules for the final four years, meeting minimum financial aid and contest scheduling limits, engaging in a rules compliance review and successfully completing the athletics certification process.
SDSU officials submitted an extensive self-study to the NCAA in the spring of 2007 and a peer-review team completed the study during a campus visit in October 2007.
LAST MEETING WITH MINNESOTA: Maria Boever scored on a layup as time expired to lift South Dakota State to a 59-58 victory over Minnesota on Jan. 14, 2007, before a crowd of 7,568 at Williams Arena in Minneapolis.
SDSU trailed by seven points with 6 minutes, 20 seconds remaining in the game and held Minnesota without a field goal for the final 5:05. Trailing 55-48, Jennifer Warkenthien made 1-of-2 free throws, and after SDSU grabbed the rebound, Andrea Verdegan sank her fifth three-pointer of the game to pull the Jackrabbits to within three.
Still playing catchup, SDSU made it a one-point game at the 2:40 mark on a three-pointer by Warkenthien and later took the lead at 57-56 on a basket in the lane by Megan Vogel with 1:35 remaining.
Minnesota missed a couple scoring opportunities but forced a pair of Jackrabbit turnovers to regain possession. With 3.5 seconds left, Ashley Ellis-Milan forced Vogel's fifth foul and made both free throws to put the Golden Gophers up 58-57.
The Jackrabbits' long inbound pass was knocked out of bounds at half court, and after a timeout, Warkenthien found Verdegan on the left baseline. The junior guard moved past a Minnesota defender and found Boever open on the right block. The play was reviewed for about three minutes before the officials ruled that the shot left Boever's hand before the red light on the basket came on, giving SDSU the one-point victory. (Note: An officials' supervisor later ruled the game officials did not follow proper replay procedures and that the basket should not have been allowed, but the outcome of the game was not changed).
Neither team held more than a three-point lead through the first 12 minutes of the game before the Jackrabbits went on a 10-2 run to grab a nine-point lead at 27-18. Andrea Verdegan started the run with her third three-pointer of the half and three other Jackrabbits scored baskets.
Minnesota ended the half on a 6-0 run in the final 2:30 of the half as Leslie Knight scored all six Golden Gopher points, including a basket with two seconds left, to make the score 32-29 at the break.
Kelly Roysland fueled Minnesota's second-half run with 13 of her game-high 17 points in the final 20 minutes. Ellis-Milan scored 10 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds as Minnesota won the battle of the boards by a 41-28 count.
Verdegan led SDSU with 15 points, making all five of her three-point attempts, and added six assists. Warkenthien tallied 13 points, with Courtney Grimsrud adding 10 points. Boever finished the game with seven points.
SDSU finished the game 23-of-52 from the field, 44.2 percent, and made half of both their three-point and free-throw attempts, going 10-of-20 on threes and 4-of-8 at the line.
Minnesota shot 41 percent from the field, 22-of-54, including 3-of-11 from three-point range, 27 percent. At the line, the Golden Gophers were 11-of-19, 58 percent.
OPENING SUCCESS: The Jackrabbits' five-point victory at Missouri on Nov. 14 marked the 16th consecutive season SDSU has opened the season with a win.
The last time the Jackrabbits lost a season opener was during the 1992-93 season, when they fell 74-72 to Moorhead State (Minn.).
SDSU's 8-1 record is its best start during the Division I era. The 2006-07 squad opened the season with a 7-2 record en route to a Women's NIT postseason berth, while the 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2007-08 teams all began their seasons with a 6-3 mark.
GETTING NOTICED: The Jackrabbit women's basketball team continues to gain national attention as SDSU moved up the honorable mention list in Monday's Associated Press Division I poll to 27 votes ? its highest vote total ever. Last week, SDSU received 12 votes in the AP poll and 11 in the USA Today/ESPN rankings. This week's USA Today/ESPN poll has not yet been released.
SDSU received one vote in the preseason poll, but dropped out of the list of teams receiving votes after the season opener at Missouri. It marked the second year in a row since moving to NCAA Division I that the Jackrabbits have appeared in a preseason national poll.
SDSU also received votes during the 2006-07 season, reaching a high of five votes after season-opening wins over Middle Tennessee State and Southern California.
The Jackrabbits also were the subject of a feature article that ran on the front page of the women's basketball section at ESPN.com in late November.
LEAGUE FAVORITES: After winning the first outright regular season title in program history last year, the South Dakota State University women's basketball team has been tabbed as the favorite to win The Summit League title during the 2008-09 season.
The Jackrabbits received 23 of 30 first-place votes in the poll conducted by the league's coaches, sports information directors and select media representatives. Oakland (Mich.) was second in the poll with three first-place votes, followed by Oral Roberts (Okla.), which also received three first-place votes. North Dakota State received the final first-place vote.
Individually, Jennifer Warkenthien was selected to repeat on the all-Summit League First Team, while Maria Boever was named to the preseason all-Summit League Second Team.
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. In its first four-plus seasons competing at the Division I level, SDSU has compiled a 78-30 mark (.722 winning percentage) versus D-I opposition. The Jackrabbits have posted victories over 46 different Division I teams representing 16 conferences plus independents.
700 WINS: The Jackrabbits' victory over Missouri on Nov. 18, 2007, 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 Jacks have gone on to compile an overall record of 726-331 (.687 winning percentage).
SDSU has posted 22 consecutive winning seasons. Twelve times over that span the Jackrabbits have won 20 games in a season, including six of eight full seasons under head coach Aaron Johnston.
SDSU's last losing season was an 11-16 campaign during the 1985-86 season.
DEPTH AND BALANCE: The Jackrabbits have had at least two players score in double figures in all nine games so far this season, and eight differen players have tallied double digits for scoring.
Five different players have taken their turn leading the team in scoring, while senior forward Jennifer Warkenthien has been the top scorer in four contests.
A list of double-figure scoring games follows:
Missouri ? Jennifer Warkenthien (15), Jennie Sunnarborg (11)
Wisconsin ? Macie Michelson (11), Stacie Oistad (11)
Utah ? Jill Young (20), Ketty Cornemann (11), Jennifer Warkenthien (11)
Oregon ? Ketty Cornemann (19), Stacie Oistad (14)
Maryland ? Jennifer Warkenthien (17), Maria Boever (10)
Illinois ? Kristin Rotert (26), Maria Boever (11)
Montana ? Jennifer Warkenthien (21), Maria Boever (16), Ketty Cornemann (10)
Centenary ? Jennifer Warkenthien (11), Kristin Rotert (10)
Oral Roberts ? Ketty Cornemann (20), Kristin Rotert (18), Jennifer Warkenthien (15), Jennie Sunnarborg (10)
BENCH POINTS: SDSU's reserves have played a key role in the Jackrabbits' first quarter of the season, outscoring the opponents' bench by a combined 170-81.
Jill Young made her long-awaited collegiate debut Nov. 17 against Wisconsin and made
2-of-4 three-point tries. She followed that performance with a 5-of-7 performance from long range en route to a team-high 20 points against Utah on Nov. 20. The Mitchell native sat out last season ? and the first game this year ? after transferring from Creighton (Neb.), and currently leads the regular reserves with an average of 6.9 points per game.
Although recently moved into the starting lineup due to Maria Boever's illness, Stacie Oistad has been another top SDSU reserve. Oistad, who has been the team's leading scorer off the bench four times this season, keyed a 20-2 Jackrabbit run early in the first half against Wisconsin with a pair of three-pointers en route to sharing game-high honors with 11 points.
SDSU reserves were limited to only three points and were outscored by the opponent's bench, 6-3, for the first time all season in the Caribbean Challenge finale with Montana.
Last season, SDSU reserves combined to score in double figures in 29 of 30 games ? the lone exception an eight-point combination at IUPUI.
LINEUP SHUFFLE: Injuries have forced the Jackrabbits to employ four different starting lineups in the first nine games of the 2008-09 season.
Sophomore point guard Macie Michelson is out indefinitely with a hand injury suffered before the Oregon game. She has been replaced in the starting lineup by fellow sophomore Kristin Rotert. Maria Boever also missed the last two games due to illness and is expected to be sidelined again Tuesday.
Working around injuries is nothing new to the Jackrabbits, who used seven different starting lineups during the 2007-08 after a rash of early season injuries.
DOUBLE DUTY: Forward Jennifer Warkenthien has posted four double-doubles so far this season, running her career total to seven.
Warkenthien brings a streak of three consecutive games with a double-double into Tuesday's matchup at Minnesota. Over the last three games, she is averaging 15.7 points and 15.3 rebounds per game.
Following is a list of Warkenthien's double-doubles this season:
Utah ? 11 points, 13 rebounds
Montana ? 21 points, 18 rebounds
Centenary ? 11 points, 11 rebounds
Oral Roberts ? 15 points, 17 rebounds
Junior Maria Boever narrowly missed a double-double Nov. 17 versus Wisconsin, collecting nine points and 10 rebounds.
WARKENTHIEN COUNTS DOWN TO 1,000: Senior Jennifer Warkenthien is on pace to become the 26th member of the Jackrabbit 1,000-point club this season.
The Willow Lake native enters Saturday's game against Oral Roberts with 928 points ? 72 away from the milestone. Last season, Warkenthien averaged a team-best 13.9 points per game in 23 games, including 19 starts.
A first-team all-Summit League selection during the 2007-08 campaign, Warkenthien posted double figures for scoring 18 times, including five games of 20-plus points.
In addition, Warkenthien is moving up the Jackrabbit career charts in blocked shots. Currently ninth with 73, she trails Angie Loken (76 blocked shots from 1998-2001) by three for the eighth spot.
THREE-POINT BARRAGE: Normally a strong-shooting team from the perimeter, the Jackrabbit women's basketball team struggled from long range in the season opener at Missouri. SDSU made only 1-of-16 three-point attempts in the game, with the only make coming from senior forward Jennifer Warkenthien in the first half.
The Jackrabbits have since rebounded by averaging seven made three-pointers per game over the last eight games, shooting a combined 56-of-170 (32.9 percent) from behind the arc.
Against Wisconsin on Nov. 17, SDSU tallied an 8-of-17 long-range shooting performance, making 6-of-7 attempts in the first half. On Nov. 20 versus Utah, the Jackrabbits drained 11-of-25 three-point tries. SDSU closed out the homestand by making 7-of-24 three-point attempts versus Oregon.
Eight different SDSU players have made a three-pointer this season, led by Ketty Cornemann, who is 14-of-35 (40 percent) from long range. Ashlea Muckenhirn tops the team and Summit League percentage-wise at 56.3 percent (9-of-16).
After starting the season 0-for-16 from three-point range, Kristin Rotert got back on track by going 8-of-18 in the three games at the Caribbean Challenge MTE. She was
4-for-5 on three-point tries versus Illinois.
In its last eight games of the 2007-08 season, SDSU made a combined 84-of-173 three-point attempts, 48.5 percent.
The Jackrabbits closed out the regular season with a season-high 15 treys against Oral Roberts (Okla.) on March 3 ? one of six times SDSU registered double figures in three-pointers made.
In final NCAA statistics, SDSU would have ranked ninth among Division I squads by averaging 7.7 made three-pointers per game and 17th in three-point percentage at 37.1 percent (232-of-625), leading The Summit League in both categories.
Three Jackrabbit players ranked among the top five individually in The Summit League in three-point percentage: Ketty Cornemann ranks first at 44.0 percent (33-of-75), departed senior Andrea Verdegan ranked fourth at 41.3 percent (43-of-104) and Kristin Rotert stood fifth at 41.7 percent (58-of-141).
For the season, the Jackrabbits made 107 more three-pointers than their opponents, 232-125. Eleven different players connected from behind the arc last season, with six making 20 or more from long range.
TOUGH AT HOME: SDSU's loss to Creighton (Neb.) in the first round of the Women's NIT on March 20, 2008, was a rarity during the Aaron Johnston era. In his tenure as Jackrabbit head coach, Johnston has led the Jackrabbits to a 105-12 record (.897
winning percentage) at Frost Arena, including winning 45 of their last 48 home games.
Since the start of the 2001-02 season, SDSU has a 96-7 home record, losing just one game at Frost Arena each full season. SDSU has been 14-1 at home each of the last two full seasons, putting together home-court winning streaks of 15 and 22 in the process. The loss to Creighton snapped a 22-game home winning streak, which was the third-longest active streak in Division I at the time.
The loss to Creighton also put an end to a streak of 54 consecutive wins in games in which the Jackrabbits led at halftime.
SDSU is undefeated at home in Summit League play, posting an 11-0 record at Frost Arena since joining the league in 2007-08. The Jackrabbits have won their home conference games by an average of 24 points
HALFTIME ADJUSTMENTS: Leading at halftime meant little or nothing during the Caribbean Challenge MTE as the team trailing at intermission came back to win all three games involving the Jackrabbits.
SDSU held a one-point lead against Maryland, 25-24, at halftime in the opener, then overcame a 38-25 deficit to Illinois on Nov. 27 and a 35-30 deficit to Montana on Nov. 28.
The Jackrabbits have won all three games in which they have trailed at halftime this season, including the season opener at Missouri. SDSU was behind 24-17 at intermission to the Tigers before rallying for a 55-50 victory.
A season ago, SDSU was 1-6 in games it either was tied or trailed at the half. The lone victory was a 74-72 overtime win at IPFW on Feb. 4, 2008.
HOLIDAY SPIRIT: The South Dakota State University Student-Athlete Advisory Committee will be conducting its annual coat and toy drives through Dec. 17.
Gently used coats and other winter clothing items, as well as new toys and monetary donations will be collected in the foyer of the Stanley J. Marshall HPER Center at all Jackrabbit home basketball games. The donations will be distributed to deserving families in the Brookings area in time for the holidays.
COACH AARON JOHNSTON: Entering his ninth season as head coach of the South Dakota State University women's basketball team, Aaron Johnston has taken the Jackrabbit program to the top of NCAA Division II and has led SDSU through a successful transition into the ranks of Division I.
Johnston enters Tuesday's game with a 201-63 career record (.761 winning percentage). After posting his 200th career victory Dec. 4 against Centenary, Johnston ranks second on the SDSU career victories list. His career totals have included a 15-4 mark (.789 winning percentage) in postseason games.
A LOOK AHEAD: The Jackrabbits will remain in non-conference action for the remainder of the calendar year. SDSU will play at Gonzaga (Wash.) on Dec. 12, with tipoff set for 6 p.m. Pacific Time (8 p.m. Central) in Spokane.
The next SDSU home game is set for Dec. 17 versus UC Davis, starting at 7 p.m.
Players Mentioned
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