SDSU Falls to No. 6 Maryland

Friday, November 27

St. Thomas, Virgin Islands

4:45 PM

South Dakota State University

3-2

#6 Maryland

5-0

No. 6 Maryland

South Dakota State

11/27/2015 9:52:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: SDSU Sports Info

ST. THOMAS, Virgin Islands—Despite three players in double digits in scoring, the South Dakota State University women's basketball suffered a 62-55 loss to No. 6 Maryland Friday night in its second game at the Paradise Jam at the University of the Virgin Islands Sports and Fitness Center.

Sophomore guard Macy Miller (Mitchell) had a game-high 13 points to go with 6 rebounds and 3 assists. Freshman guard Madison Guebert (Apple Valley, Minn.) tied a career high with 11 points, including 3 3-pointers. Sophomore Ellie Thompson (Chaska, Minn.) registered 10 points and 8 rebounds.

Maryland (5-0) was led by Brionna Jones with 21 points and 13 rebounds. Shatori Walker-Kimbrough added 20 points.

"We played very well the last three quarters of the game. Unfortunately, we couldn't get enough offense going in the first quarter," Aaron Johnston, SDSU head coach said. "Our 1-17 start from the field was a big hole to dig out of. Our defense was excellent and helped keep the game in reach, and as our offense picked up, we eventually took the lead late in the game. Playing quality opponents is the best way to learn about our true strengths and weaknesses."

After trailing by 10 at halftime, 31-21, the Jackrabbits opened the second half on a 7-2 run with a 3-pointer by junior Clarissa Ober (Glencoe, Minn.) and a pair of layups by Thompson to cut Maryland's lead to five, 33-28.

SDSU keep the Terrapins in check on defense, limiting them to 28.6 percent from the field in the third quarter while the Jackrabbits shot 50 percent.

The Jackrabbits cut Maryland's lead to two points on a 3-pointer from Thompson with 3:05 to go in the quarter, but back-to-back layups by Maryland and a Miller free throw left the Terrapins up 44-39.

South Dakota State opened the fourth quarter with an 8-2 run and senior Gabrielle Boever's (Worthington, Minn.) 3-pointer with 6:40 left tied the game at 46. Miller gave SDSU its first lead of the game on a layup at 6:01. Jones' jumper tied the game at 48 before a Miller layup game the Jacks the 50-48 lead with just over five minutes to play.

Maryland scored the next six points to lead 54-50 at 2:46. A Miller layup followed by a pair of free throws by Walker-Kimbrough had the Terrapins up 56-52 with just over a minute to play. Guebert then made it a one-point game with a deep 3-pointer with 1:02 remaining.

With the Jackrabbits forced to foul, Maryland sank a pair of free throws to lead 59-55 with 29 seconds remaining. A missed shot by the Jackrabbits and a Terrapin rebound sent Walker-Kimbrough to the foul line with 15 second remaining and Maryland up, 59-55. After making the first free throw Walker-Kimbrough missed the second and the Jackrabbits had an opportunity on offense but a Thompson layup missed.

Maryland's Chloe Pavlech made the first of two free throws and Jones rebounded the second shot for a layup.

"(Games like this) build up our confidence a lot. Losing to Notre Dame by 11 and Maryland by 7, I think going into each and every game we are going to have to use that. We know we can compete with these good teams," Miller said.

The Jackrabbits play their final game of the Paradise Jam at 4:45 p.m. Saturday when they meet Old Dominion.