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6 p.m. MT / 7 p.m. CT
Women's Basketball
vs Montana
South Dakota State University Athletics
Wednesday, November 24
Frost Arena
7 p.m.
South Dakota State University
73
vs
70
Illinois State
Jackrabbits outlast Illinois State
11/24/2010 11:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Kristin Rotert scored 16 of her game-high 22 points in the second half as South Dakota State outlasted Illinois State, 73-70, in a battle of top mid-major women's basketball programs Wednesday night at Frost Arena.
Both teams moved to 3-1 on the season. Illinois State was ranked sixth in this week's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Poll, while SDSU was 13th. The victory marked career win No. 250 for Jackrabbit head coach Aaron Johnston.
Trailing 54-48 after a Kenyatta Shelton three-point play with 11 minutes and 30 seconds to play, the Jackrabbits began hitting the offensive glass and turned up the defensive intensity, holding Illinois State without a field goal for more than nine minutes. The Redbirds, who opened the second half by making 9-of-13 from the field, missed 12 consecutive field-goal attempts during their drought.
SDSU, meanwhile, chipped away at the deficit, which was as large as seven points on two occasions in the second half. Rotert scored five straight points to give SDSU a 59-58 lead with 4:52 to play - the Jackrabbits' first lead since 28-26 late in the first half. Jennie Sunnarborg connected on a three-pointer from the right wing and Rotert added a traditional three-point play to punctuate a 13-2 SDSU run that gave the Jackrabbits a 65-58 advantage.
The Jackrabbits missed three consecutive free throws with under a minute to play, allowing Illinois State to pull back to within a point, 71-70 on a three-pointer by Shala Jackson with 13 seconds remaining. Jill Young calmly sank a pair of free throws with five seconds to play and the Jackrabbit defense forced a desperation three-point attempt at the buzzer that came up well short.
The first half was hotly contested, as well, as the lead changed six times and the game was tied eight times. SDSU's largest lead of the first half was four points, 28-24, but Illinois State scored the next eight points to regain the lead. The Redbirds led 34-33 at intermission.
Besides Rotert's game-high 22, Sunnarborg finished with 21 points, six rebounds and four blocked shots. Young tallied 13 points, sinking three three-pointers.
SDSU was slightly better from the field, finishing 25-of-56 for 44.6 percent, including a 4-for-15 effort from three-point range. At the line, the Jackrabbits made 19-of-28 tries, 67.9 percent.
Illinois State ended the night 24-of-61 from the floor, 39.3 percent, including 4-for-13 from long range. The Redbirds converted 18-of-26 free throw attempts, 69.2 percent.
The Redbirds held a big rebounding advantage most of the night, finishing with a 43-37 edge. Emily Hanley turned in a double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds. Katie Broadway scored 14 of her 16 points in the first half, followed by 14 points off the bench by Shala Jackson.
Leah Dietel led SDSU on the boards with nine rebounds. Both teams committed 17 turnovers.
The Jackrabbits return to action Sunday, traveling to Murfreesboro, Tenn., to take on a Middle Tennessee State team ranked eighth among mid-majors. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m., with radio coverage available on WNAX 104.1 FM and KJJQ 910 AM.
Illinois State travels to DePaul (Ill.) for a matchup on Dec. 1.
NOTES: SDSU leads the all-time series, which began with a meeting in the 2007 Women's NIT, 2-1 ... the Jackrabbits improved to 7-4 against Missouri Valley Conference opponents since moving to Division I at the start of the 2004-05 season ... Johnston holds a career record of 250-77 (.765 winning percentage) - all at SDSU - in 11 seasons ... SDSU improved to 131-14 (.903 winning percentage) at Frost Arena under Johnston and ran its current home winning streak to 11 games ... Young moved into seventh place on the Jackrabbit career three-point charts with 156, passing both Heather Sieler (154 three-pointers from 2003-06) and Stacie Cizek (155 three-pointers from 2001-04) in Wednesday's game ... Young is the only Jackrabbit player to reach double figures in all four games this season ... the Jackrabbits had two players score 20 points in the same game for the first time since Jennifer Warkenthien (23) and Ketty Cornemann (20) accomplished the feat on Feb. 23, 2008, against North Dakota State ... attendance was 1,049
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