WOMEN RETURN HOME TO FACE DRAKE

Tuesday, December 15

Brookings, S.D.

6 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Drake

Photo by: Dave Eggen/Inertia Sports Media

12/14/2020 4:50:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Game 6 | South Dakota State (3-2) vs. Drake (2-2)

When	Tuesday, Dec. 15 \| 6 p.m.
Where	Frost Arena \| Brookings, S.D.
Live Audio / Radio	Jackrabbits All-Access \| Jackrabbit Sports Network I WNAX 570 AM \| Brad Peterson
Live Video	Midco Sports Network \| ESPN3 \| Tom Nieman & Brad Newitt
Live Stats	GoJacksLive.com
Game Notes	South Dakota State \| Drake
Social Media	Twitter I Facebook

South Dakota State women's basketball returns home to host Drake Tuesday evening. Tipoff at Frost Arena is slated for 6 p.m.

The Jackrabbits, now 3-2, look to bounce back after dropping two consecutive contests to Kansas State, 62-53, and Northern Iowa, 65-48.

Drake comes to Brookings 2-2 on the season with its most recent action being an exhibition contest against Northwest Missouri State on Dec. 10. They defeated the Bearcats, 82-30.

Tuesday will be the fifth all-time meeting between the two programs. The series is tied, 2-2, with Drake capturing the last meeting with a 74-67 win in Des Moines, Iowa last season. South Dakota State holds a 1-0 advantage over Drake in Frost Arena.

About South Dakota State
Myah Selland leads the team with 17.0 points per game, while adding 5.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists per contest. In her first game since Dec. 5, 2019, Selland made an immediate impact as she recorded 19 points, five boards, two assists and two blocks to help the Jacks defeat then-No. 15 Iowa State. In the win over Creighton, the redshirt junior recorded the third double-double of her career as she led the squad with 17 points and pulled down 11 rebounds. Selland carried the Jackrabbits to an overtime win over then-No. 18 Gonzaga with 18 points. She made the game-tying shot that sent the contest into overtime and dished a perfect pass to Lindsey Theuninck who hit the game-winning 3-pointer. In the loss at Kansas State, Selland paced the squad with 15 points and 4 assists. She has scored in double digits in all five contests this season. A season ago, she averaged 13.8 points and 3.0 assists per game in the nine contests she played in before suffering a season-ending foot injury. A Preseason All-Summit League First Team honoree for the Jacks, the Letcher native was named Summit League Player of the Week on Dec. 7.

Paiton Burckhard leads the team with 5.4 rebounds per game while adding 13.2 points per game. In the season opener she turned in eight points, three rebounds and two steals, while playing a career-high 35 minutes. Burckhard ranked second on the team with 13 points in the win over Creighton. In the overtime win over then Gonzaga, she recorded 14 points, five rebounds and played a career-high 41 minutes. She was just shy of a double-double with 13 points and a team-leading nine rebounds in the contest at Kansas State. She paced the team with a season-high 18 points at UNI while adding a team-best eight rebounds. Burckhard averaged a team-best 14.2 points and ranked second on the team with 5.7 rebounds per game after starting all 32 contests that she appeared in last season. The junior reached double-figures in 26 contests, including 20-plus points in seven games. Burckhard has registered three double-doubles in her career. The Aberdeen native earned Preseason All-Summit League First Team honors after being selected to the All-Summit League First Team for the 2019-20 season.

Tylee Irwin is averaging 7.5 points and 4.5 rebounds, while adding six blocks and five steals. Against Creighton, she turned in eight points, seven rebounds and tied a career-high three blocks. Irwin played a career-high 37 minutes in the win over Gonzaga as she recorded 16 points, three rebounds and one block off the bench. She earned the starting assignment for the first time this season at Kansas State. She pulled down seven rebounds and blocked a team-best two shots at UNI. Irwin finished second on the team in minutes played for the 2019-20 season, averaging 27.6 minutes per game. Last season, the Wahpeton, N.D. native scored a season-best 18 points in the Jackrabbits' semifinals victory over North Dakota State. Against North Dakota, Irwin pulled down a season-high 10 boards. She blocked a career-best three shots against Omaha and Western Illinois. In Summit League play, the senior averaged 9.7 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. Irwin earned a spot on the Preseason All-Summit League Second Team for the second consecutive season.

Haley Greer is averaging a team-best 3.6 assists per game, while adding 8.8 points per game. Against Gonzaga, she became the first Jackrabbit since 2000 to dish 10-plus assists in a game. Greer posted eight points and three assists to help the Jackrabbits to a victory over Creighton. She led SDSU in her debut as a Jackrabbit with a career-best 20 points as she went 4-of-6 from beyond the arc en route to being named Summit League Player of the Week. She joins the Jackrabbits as a graduate transfer after spending four years at Colgate. Greer, a 5-10 guard from Winnetka, Ill., comes in after leading Colgate in 3-pointers made (34) and blocked shots (23) while averaging 8.1 points per game in 2019-20.

Lindsey Theuninck has started all five contests for the Jackrabbits this season. She tallied nine points and a career-high five steals at Kansas State. Against then-No. 18 Gonzaga Theuninck posted six rebounds and 11 points, including the overtime game-winning 3-pointer. She turned in nine points, while tallying a team-best six boards and three assists against Iowa State. In the win over Creighton, she added five points, four rebounds and three assists. Theuninck averaged 24.5 minutes and 4.8 points per game last season. In the win over Chattanooga, the junior scored a career-high 13 points in her first-ever start as a Jackrabbit. At Denver she made a career-best three 3-pointers.

Sydney Stapleton recorded four points, three assists, and two steals against Iowa State. The Blaine, Minn. native added four points to the Jackrabbits efforts against Creighton. She averaged 17.1 minutes and 5.5 points per game off the bench a season ago. The junior turned in a career performance against Coppin State, shooting 5-of-10 from the 3-point line and totaling 17 points. She ranked second on the squad from beyond the arc with a total 38 3-pointers.

The duo of Kallie Theisen and Tori Nelson return for their sophomore seasons.

Nelson recorded 12 points against Iowa State and eight in the win over Creighton. Additionally, against Gonzaga she posted nine points, three rebounds and three assists. She recorded nine points and dished three assists at Kansas State. Nelson tired a career-best three steals at UNI. The reigning Summit League Freshman of the Year, averaged 22.7 minutes per game. Nelson posted the squads first double-double of the season in the win over Notre Dame. She also scored a career-best 23 points against Coppin State. She started in 19 games for the Jackrabbits and averaged 10.1 points per game in Summit League action last season.

Theisen appeared in 14 games and averaged 15.9 minutes before suffering a season ending injury last season.

Juniors Jordan Ferrand and Addison Hirschman appeared in 18 games, while redshirt sophomore Lauren Rongisch played in 15 contests. Ferrand made an appearance in the 2020-21 season opener and recorded a block.

A trio of freshmen in Emily Herzberg, Madysen Vlastuin and Mesa Byom will round out the 2020-21 roster. Vlastuin and Byom played 19 and 12 minutes, respectively, in the season opener and recorded two points apiece. In the home victory over Creighton, Byom sank her first collegiate 3-pointer, while Vlastuin made one against Gonzaga.

State is narrowly outscoring its opponents 63.6-63.0 and holds them to 38.6 percent shooting, including 24.0 percent from long distance.

Scouting Drake
Drake is 2-2 on the season, including 2-1 on the road. Drake has defeated Minnesota (99-66) and mutual opponent Creighton (75-62).

Grace Berg paces the offense with 18 points per game. She tallied 24 points in the win over Creighton and 26 against Iowa. She is shooting 50 percent from the field.

Kierra Collier follows with 17.8 points per game. She adds team highs of 27 assists and eight steals. She is making 53.8 percent of her shots from beyond the arc and has made 14 3-pointers on the season.

Maddie Monahan is also averaging double figures with 16 points per game. Monica Burich leads the defensive efforts with 6.8 rebounds per game.

Drake is outscoring its opponents, 83.0-75.0. The Bulldogs are shooting 45.5 percent from the field and 35.5 percent from long distance.

Jennie Baranczyk is in her 9th season at the helm of the Bulldogs with a 176-86 record.

Jackrabbits' Last Time Out
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - No. 22/21 South Dakota State women's basketball fell on the road to Northern Iowa Saturday afternoon, 65-48.

The Jackrabbits (3-2) shot 33.3 percent from the field and were led by Paiton Burckhard, who finished with 18 points and eight rebounds. Myah Selland scored 16 points, including a 3-of-4 effort from 3-point range. She was the only Jackrabbit to make one from long distance in the contest. Tori Nelson added five rebounds and three steals while Tylee Irwin grabbed seven rebounds.

As a team, the Jacks outrebounded UNI 37-34 and recorded 13 steals.

State built an early 6-0 lead and didn't allow a UNI basket until two Panther layups cut the Jackrabbit lead to two at the 5:42 mark of the first quarter. Madysen Vlastuin's basket at 3:21 broke a near four minute Jackrabbit scoring drought, building State's advantage to 8-4. An Irwin jumper closed out the quarter and pushed the Jackrabbit lead to 13-8.

Vlastuin opened the scoring in the second quarter with a turnaround jumper in the paint, giving the Jacks a seven-point advantage (15-8). UNI followed with eight unanswered points to take a 16-15 lead with 6:09 to play in the half. UNI and SDSU traded shares of the lead for the next two minutes until a 6-0 Panther run made it 24-19 at the 2:18 mark. A pair of baskets for both teams ended the half with the Panthers in front 28-23.

After the Jacks started the second half on a 6-2 run, UNI caught fire with 11 unanswered to give the Panthers their largest lead of the night at 41-29 with 5:36 remaining in the quarter. A Selland jumper, coming out of an SDSU timeout, broke the run at the 5:07 mark, but UNI continued to hit from beyond the arc, outscoring the Jacks 13-5 for the remainder of the quarter to take a 54-36 advantage.

Looking for a rally, State scored the first four points of the final quarter, however a 6-1 run by the Panthers increased their lead to 19 with 7:03 left to play. The Jacks responded with a Selland 3-pointer and a Burckhard layup, but just two Jackrabbit points in the final five minutes of play prevented any chance of a comeback.

"We had plenty of good looks and I would just say we have the potential to be a really good team, we've proven that this year," head coach Aaron Johnston said. "As teams adjust with how they cover us, we've got to continue to adjust with what we do, but I thought this game, we just looked really flat as we were missing shots. I thought our effort level, our focus level was certainly impacted by how things were going for us. We didn't show the same kind of fight that we showed in our first three games at home. When things didn't go our way, I thought we got really down and that's just not acceptable. We have to find a way to continue to play through a little bit of adversity, but we didn't do that well enough today and in the second half, they just started making threes."

Opponent's Last Time Out
DES MOINES, Iowa - The Drake University women's basketball team got scoring from 10 of the 11 players who suited up and rolled to an 82-30 victory over Northwest Missouri State in an exhibition game at the Knapp Center on Thursday night.

In a tuneup for a couple of challenging road games ahead, Kierra Collier and Maggie Bair led the Bulldogs' balanced scoring with 17 points each. Bair also grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds, while Collier shot 8-for-13 from the field with a 3-pointer, handed out two assists and came up with a steal.

Grace Berg scored 13 points on 6-for-9 shooting and Monica Burich added 12 points, making 5 of 7 shots.

The Bulldogs consistently drove for layups or got the ball inside for easy shots. Of their 34 field goals, 30 came on layups or other close-in shots. Drake went just 3-for-16 from 3-point range, but shot 64.6 percent from inside the arc.

Northwest Missouri, an NCAA Division II school, led 11-8 before Bair got free for two straight layups, starting a 23-0 run that broke the game open. The Bulldogs led 40-16 at halftime and continued to pull away in the final two quarters, leading by as many as 53.

The Bulldogs made 11 steals, committed only six turnovers and held the Bearcats to 18.5 percent shooting.

Drake will return to action on Tuesday, Dec. 15 at No. 22 South Dakota State. The Bulldogs play at Iowa State on Tuesday, Dec. 22.
--godrakebulldogs.com

A Win Would...

Improve South Dakota State 3-2 in the all-time series
Improve the Jacks to 4-2 on the season

A Loss Would...

Give Drake the lead in the all-time series at 3-2
Give Drake its first victory at Frost over the Jackrabbits

Major Win Milestones
The Jackrabbits reached the milestone of 1,000 program wins last season as it defeated Notre Dame, 65-59, at the Cancun Challenge. The Jacks became the 14th NCAA Division I women's team to reach the mark. Head Coach Aaron Johnston is responsible for 495 of South Dakota State's 1,017 wins.

Johnston is just five wins away from claiming 500 career wins. He will be among 33 active Division I coaches to reach the milestone.

Preseason Recognition
Paiton Burckhard and Myah Selland were named to the All-Summit League Preseason First Team, while Tylee Irwin and Tori Nelson earned All-Summit League Preseason Second Team accolades.

Jacks Tabbed Second In Preseason Poll
The Jackrabbits claimed a total of 566 points and 11 first place votes in the Summit League preseason poll. South Dakota was voted the favorite with 25 first place votes and 587 points, while Western Illinois rounded out the top three with 389 points.

2020-21 Summit League Preseason Poll

Rk	Team	Votes (1st)
1	South Dakota	587 (25)
2	South Dakota State	566 (11)
3	Western Illinois	389
4	Oral Roberts	376
5	North Dakota State	371
6	Kansas City	323
7	Denver	300
8	North Dakota	203
9	Omaha	124

Against Ranked Opponents

South Dakota State is 13-32 vs. ranked foes since 2006-07. It is 8-5 in Frost Arena, 3-14 on the road and 1-10 at neutral sites.
The Jackrabbits' 75-67 win over 12th-ranked Syracuse ties for the highest ranked team they have beaten in program history.
Syracuse was also the highest team South Dakota State has defeated on the road.
SDSU faced its highest-ranked opponent Jan. 2, 2014, when it played then-No. 2 Notre Dame (L, 94-51) in South Bend.
South Dakota State defeated No. 21/20-ranked USF, 61-50, fell to No. 3 Oregon (95-56) and a ranked South Dakota on three occasions last season
Most recently, the Jackrabbits defeated then-No. 15/18 Iowa State (76-69) and then-No. 18 Gonzaga (75-72, OT) at Frost Arena.

2019-20 Postseason Awards

Two returning Jackrabbits earned Summit League postseason awards.
Paiton Burckhard picked up first-team accolades.
Tori Nelson was named Summit League Freshman of the year and received All-Newcomer Team selections.

-GoJacks.com-