JACKRABBITS HOST UNI IN NON-CONFERENCE FINALE

Game 9 | RV/25 South Dakota State (6-2) vs. Northern Iowa (3-3)

When	Wednesday, Dec. 23 \| 2 p.m.
Where	Frost Arena \| Brookings, S.D.
Live Audio / Radio	Jackrabbits All-Access \| Jackrabbit Sports Network I WNAX 570 AM \| Scotty Kwas
Live Video	Midco Sports Network \| ESPN3 \| Tom Nieman & Brad Newitt
Live Stats	GoJacksLive.com
Game Notes	South Dakota State
Social Media	Twitter I Facebook

RV/25th-ranked South Dakota State women's basketball will close out its non-conference slate as it hosts Northern Iowa in the second meeting of the home-and-home series. Tipoff is schedule for 2 p.m. Wednesday at Frost Arena.

The Jackrabbits are now 6-2 on the season as they return home from a two-game road trip that saw wins over then 20th-ranked Missouri State (60-52) and Montana State (82-67).

Northern Iowa will also be closing out its non-conference schedule on Wednesday in Brookings. The Panthers have played just one game since their last meeting with the Jackrabbits. UNI fell to Iowa State, 61-67, Dec. 15.

Wednesday will be the 14th meeting all-time and second this season between the Jackrabbits and the Panthers. The Jackrabbits hold a 9-4 advantage all-time in a series that dates back to 1979. Just three games ago, SDSU fell to UNI, 65-48.

About South Dakota State
Myah Selland leads the team with 19 points and 7.4 rebounds per game, while adding 3.3 assists per contest. She is shooting 49.5 percent from the field, including 38.7 percent from beyond the arc. 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. 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. The redshirt junior registered a double-double as she led the Jacks with 21 points and 11 rebounds against Drake. In the win over No. 20 Missouri State, she paced the squad with yet another double-double, including 19 points and 10 rebounds, while adding a season-best six assists and four steals. In the win over Montana State, Selland registered her third-straight double-double with a career-best 27 points and 12 rebounds. She has scored in double digits in all eight contests this season. Additionally, she has recorded four double-doubles this season and six in her career. 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 and Dec. 21.

Paiton Burckhard is averaging 12.4 points and 5.1 rebounds, while playing 29.3 minutes 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 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 posted 13 points and five rebounds in the win at Missouri State. Against Montana State she tallied 14 points and seven rebounds. Burckhard has scored in double figures in six games this season. She averaged a team-leading 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 10.4 points and 3.7 rebounds, while adding eight blocks and seven 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. Against Drake, she tallied 14 points in the 22 minutes she played off the bench. In the win over Montana State, she tied her career-best of 22 points while adding five rebounds and a team-best five assists. 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 3.8 assists per game, while adding 7.5 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 eight contests for the Jackrabbits this season and ranks second on the squad with a total of 11 steals. She dished a team-best five assists and added 11 points against Drake. 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. At Montana State, she tallied six points. 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 has started all eight contests for the Jackrabbits and ranks third on the team 4.1 rebounds per game, while adding 8.9 points per game. She tallied a season-high 18 points against Drake. 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.

Regan Nesheim has made an immediate impact in her collegiate debut. After redshirting last season, she made her first collegiate appearance at UNI where she recorded a steal in the two minutes she played. In the wins over Drake and Missouri State she recorded five points in each contest. At Montana State she played 30 minutes and turned in a solid defensive performance with eight rebounds and two blocks.

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

A trio of freshmen in Emily Herzberg, Madysen Vlastuin and Mesa Byom will round out the 2020-21 roster. Vlastuin and Byom are averaging 13.9 and 7.5 minutes per game, respectively. In the home victory over Creighton, Byom sank her first collegiate 3-pointer, while Vlastuin made one against Gonzaga. Additionally, Byom recorded two blocks against Drake and four points at Missouri State.

State is outscoring its opponents 68.4-63.4 and holds them to 38.2 percent shooting, including 26.5 percent from long distance.

Scouting Northern Iowa
Northern Iowa is 3-2 on the season. Since the Jackrabbits and Panthers last met, UNI fell to Iowa State, 61-67, at home.

Karli Rucker is pacing the Panthers with 12.7 points and 3.3 assists per game.

Megan Maahs and Kam Finley are each averaging 10.7 and 9.7 points per game, respectively. Maahs is shooting 51.1 percent from the field.

Bre Gunnels leads the defensive efforts with 5.8 rebounds per game, while Cynthia Wolf adds seven blocks.

As a team, UNI is being outscored by its opponents, 73.2-70.5. The Panthers are shooting 39.7 percent from the field and 32.9 percent from long distance.

Tanya Warren is in her 14th season at the helm of the Panthers with a 246-1780 record.

Jackrabbits' Last Time Out
BOZEMAN, Mont. - South Dakota State women's basketball defeated Montana State, 82-67, Monday afternoon in its final road game of the non-conference slate.

The Jacks, now 6-2, shot 46.3 percent from the field, outrebounded Montana State 42-33 and outscored the Bobcats 34-20 inside the paint.

"This was a tough trip and Montana State has a good team," said head coach Aaron Johnston. "They've got a really good point guard who creates a lot for them. She's going to be awfully difficult to defend in the years going forward, but our team looked a little bit road weary. It's just a tough place to play, there's just a little bit of elevation, so everything is a little bit harder, but I give our team a lot of credit for going on the road and getting two wins. Today, there were times when we looked really good and there were times where we probably didn't have that same edge about us. So that, quite honestly, we need to find a better way to be more consistent with our bench. I thought we were up and down a little bit there."

Myah Selland led all scorers with a career-best 27 points, including a 9-for-9 performance at the free throw line. Selland also grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds and dished three assists. Tylee Irwin scored 22 points to tie her career high, while adding five rebounds and five assists. Paiton Burckhard finished with 14 points and seven rebounds. Tori Nelson finished with seven points and Regan Nesheim added eight rebounds and two assists.

"Regan, particularly in the second half, I thought she was really good. She rebounded the ball really well, defended really well, gave us major, major minutes and we needed that from her. I thought she was outstanding. Myah was really special today. She was good in the first half. Second half, I thought it was as good as she's played even this year. I thought she just played so under control, great shot selection, rebounded, defended - she was really good. I think in a close game, you want your leaders to do that and Tylee did the same. She was really special throughout the day, especially in that second half when we really needed a little bit of a push and needed a little bit of momentum. Those two brought about 49 points, had a total of eight assists, 17 rebounds, they got to the free throw line 16 times, that's what you want out of captains and those two were outstanding today."

Nelson's jumper three minutes into the game ignited a 9-0 run to put the Jacks ahead 9-4 with just under four minutes to play in the opening quarter. 3-pointers by Irwin and Sydney Stapleton put the Jacks up by nine at the 1:48 mark. Montana State outscored SDSU 5-2 in the final minute, but the Jacks still held onto a 19-13 lead at the end of the first.

Two Selland baskets within the first two minutes of the second quarter gave the Jacks their first double digit lead of the afternoon (23-13). Nine unanswered Bobcat points gave Montana State a brief two-point lead until the Jacks stormed back with an 8-0 run to regain the lead with 32 seconds left in the half. A Montana State layup with four seconds to go made it a 35-31 game heading into the break.

The Jacks came out of the locker room strong with seven consecutive points, leading 42-31 at the 7:39 mark in the third quarter. Montana State outscored the Jacks 12-6 over the next four minutes to get back within five, but Selland took control with seven unanswered points to give the Jacks a 13-point lead with 2:22 left in the third. Burckhard closed a very strong offensive quarter for the State with a pair of free throws to make it 60-48.

The Jackrabbit offense continued to roll in the fourth quarter. Irwin scored seven of the first nine points of the quarter for a 9-0 SDSU run to give the Jacks a 21-point advantage with 6:59 to play. One last Montana State charge of nine unanswered brought the Bobcats back within single digits, but the Jackrabbit lead was ultimately too large to overcome. Three Irwin free throws and a Lauren Rongisch 3-pointer in the final minute secured the 82-67 win.

Opponent's Last Time Out
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - UNI women's basketball held All-American Ashley Joens to just six points, her lowest point total in over a season, but couldn't muster enough offense and fell 67-61 to Iowa State Tuesday evening at the McLeod Center.

Joens picked up two early fouls and sat much of the first half, but was just 2-10 from the field and made just one trip to the foul line where she was 2-2.

Iowa State started the scoring, but UNI went on a 12-2 run to build a 14-4 lead with 4:11 left in the first quarter. Iowa State cut the lead to 12-9 at the break, but UNI held the Cyclones to 15.4% (2-13) shooting in the first frame.

Iowa State controlled the second quarter early, building a 10-point 26-16 lead, the largest of the game, before UNI battled back to tie the game at 29. The Cyclones led 31-29 at the break. Cynthia Wolf was 3-4 from the field in the first half and grabbed five rebounds.

The Cyclones built a nine-point lead in the third quarter, but Karli Rucker hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to cut the lead to 53-50 entering the fourth.

The Panthers kept it close, but were never able to close the gap and Iowa State earned the 6-point win.

UNI falls to 3-3 on the year while Iowa State improves to 4-3.

Rucker and wolf led the Panthers with 12 points each. Bree Gunnels added 11 points.
Rucker moved into the 16th spot on the All-Time Scoring list and passed the 1,100-point mark. She now has 1,106 points for her career and trails Kerry Dawson by 27 points for the 15th spot on the all-time scoring list with 1,133 points as a Panther.

Freshman Emerson Green recorded a team-high nine rebounds.

UNI outrebounded Iowa State 40-39 and tallied 11 assists to just six for ISU.

Iowa State's freshman, Lexi Donarski led the Cyclones with 19 points. Donarski went 9-9 (100%) from the free throw line and ended with five rebounds and two assists.

UNI next travels to Brookings, S. D., next Wednesday to face the South Dakota State Jackrabbits for the second time in three games. SDSU plays games against Missouri State on Saturday and Montana State on Monday.
--unipanthers.com

A Win Would...

Improve South Dakota State to 10-4 all-time against Northern Iowas
Improve the Jacks to 7-2 on the season

A Loss Would...

Improve UNI to 5-9 all-time against the Jackrabbits

1,000 Point Watch
Three Jackrabbits are approaching 1,000 point milestones. Myah Selland is at 928 career points. Tylee Irwin and Paiton Burckhard are at 817 and 755 points, respectively.

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 1,019 wins.

Johnston is just two 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-

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Players Mentioned

Paiton Burckhard

Mesa Byom

Jordan Ferrand

Haley Greer

Emily Herzberg

Addison Hirschman

Tylee Irwin

Tori Nelson

Regan Nesheim

Lauren Rongisch

Myah Selland

Sydney Stapleton

Kallie Theisen

Lindsey Theuninck

Madysen Vlastuin

Upcoming Event: Women's Basketball versus Augustana (Exhibition) on October 29, 2025 at 6 p.m.

Upcoming Event: Women's Basketball at Creighton on November 3, 2025

Upcoming Event: Women's Basketball versus Rice on November 7, 2025 at 7 p.m.

Upcoming Event: Women's Basketball versus Murray State on November 11, 2025 at 7 p.m.

Upcoming Event: Women's Basketball versus Montana on November 15, 2025 at 6 p.m. MT / 7 p.m. CT

Upcoming Event: Women's Basketball versus Gonzaga on November 20, 2025

Completed Event: Women's Basketball at No. 2 [#3/3] UConn on March 24, 2025 , Loss , 57, to, 91

Completed Event: Women's Basketball versus No. 7 [#17/19] Oklahoma State on March 22, 2025 , Win , 74, to, 68

Completed Event: Women's Basketball versus No. 2 Oral Roberts on March 9, 2025 , Win , 84, to, 68

Completed Event: Women's Basketball versus No. 5 North Dakota on March 8, 2025 , Win , 84, to, 55

Completed Event: Women's Basketball versus No. 8 Omaha on March 6, 2025 , Win , 87, to, 67

Completed Event: Women's Basketball versus St. Thomas on March 1, 2025 , Win , 79, to, 46

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