Women wrap up regular season Thursday

Game 30 | South Dakota State (20-9, 12-3) at North Dakota State (9-17, 6-8)

When	Thursday, Feb. 27 \| 5 p.m.
Where	Scheels Center \| Fargo, N.D.
Live Audio / Radio	Jackrabbits All-Access \| Jackrabbit Sports Network I WNAX 570 AM \| Brad Peterson
Live Video	Midco Sports Network \| ESPN +
Live Stats	GoBison.com
Game Notes	South Dakota State \| North Dakota State
Social Media	Twitter I Facebook

South Dakota State concludes regular season play on the road Thursday, as it travels to take on North Dakota State. The Jackrabbits and Bison will tip at 5 p.m., as part of a doubleheader with the men's game following (8 p.m.).

The Jackrabbits (20-9, 12-3 Summit League) fell to No. 20/15 South Dakota in their home finale on Saturday, 77-67.

North Dakota State is 9-17 overall and 6-8 in Summit League play. The Bison are coming off an 82-74 road victory over North Dakota.

South Dakota State holds a 52-39 advantage in the all-time series over the Bison. The Jackrabbits have claimed the last eight contests against the NDSU, including a 52-60 victory at Frost Arena earlier this season.

About South Dakota State
Paiton Burckhard is averaging a team-best 14.5 points and ranks second with 5.9 rebounds per game. The sophomore scored a career-best 27 points to lead the Jacks to a win over North Dakota and has reach double-figures in 23 contests, including 20-plus points in seven games. She ranks fifth in the Summit League with a 53.3 field goal percentage on a team-high 394 total points. In Summit League play she has scored 238 points (15.9 ppg) and pulled down 97 rebounds. Burckhard registered her third double-double in the win over Western Illinois with 11 points and a career-best 12 rebounds. The sophomore was named to the Summit League All-Newcomer Team a season ago.

Myah Selland is averaging 13.8 points and 3.0 assists per game. She is shooting 55.8 percent (48-of-86) from the field. Selland turned in season-bests of seven assists in the Jacks' win over Notre Dame and 20 points against FGCU. An All-Summit League Preseason First Team honoree, the junior averaged 12.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game while ranking second on the team in assists (108) and blocked shots (18) last season.

Tagyn Larson is averaging 11.5 points on the season after reaching double figures in 15 games, including a season-best 22 points against Marquette. She pulls down a team-best 6 rebounds per game, while adding 16 steals and a team-leading 25 blocks. The senior also dished a career-best nine assists in the win over Purdue Fort Wayne and is averaging 3.2 assists per game. Larson is shooting 51.9 percent from the field and 39.3 percent from beyond the arc. The Sioux Falls native turned in her first double-double of the season to lead the Jacks to a victory over Oral Roberts with 17 points and 14 rebounds. A 2018-19 All-Summit League Second Team and Summit League Championship All-Tournament Team selection, Larson was named to the All-Summit League Preseason First Team. She led the team last season in rebounding (6.4 rpg) and blocked shots (43). The senior averaged 10.5 points per game.

Rylie Cascio Jensen is the only Jackrabbit this season to earn the starting assignment in all 29 games as she averages 6.6 points, 3.3 rebounds and ranks third in the Summit League with a team-best 3.9 assists per game. The senior leads SDSU with 40 3-pointers this season. Cascio Jensen tied her career-best of seven boards in the win over Western Illinois. In the Summit League opener against Omaha, the senior turned in a career-high 14 points as she went 4-of-6 from beyond the arc. She dished a season-high seven assists against Denver and Western Illinois. Cascio Jensen ranked third on the team with 105 assists and fifth on the squad with 20 3-pointers last year, averaging 19.2 minutes per game off the bench.

Averaging 8.1 points and 5.1 rebounds per game is Tylee Irwin. The junior scored a season-best 16 points in the win over Purdue Fort Wayne. 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 junior is averaging 9.7 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. Last season Irwin ranked third on the squad with 15 blocked shots and was fourth in steals (33), rebounding (3.7 rpg), and 3-pointers (22). She was named to the All-Summit League Preseason Second team.

Senior Megan Bultsma has appeared in 24 games and is turning in productive minutes off the bench for SDSU as she's averaging 7.5 points and 4 rebounds per game. In the win at Denver, the senior more than doubled her career-best (10 points) as she turned in a team-leading 24 points. Bultsma was the first player since 2015 to score 20-plus points coming off the bench. She has a total of 161 points and is shooting a team-high 52.8 percent from the field in Summit League play. She scored 10-plus points in 10 contests this season. In the win over North Dakota, the senior tied a career-best nine rebounds and three blocks.

Lindsey Theuninck is averaging 24.3 minutes and 4.6 points per game. In the win over Chattanooga, the sophomore scored a career-high 13 points in her first-ever start as a Jackrabbit. She has earned a starting assignment in 12 contests. At Denver she made a career-best three 3-pointers. She averaged 12.1 minutes and 2.6 points a game for the Jacks last season.

Sydney Stapleton is averaging 17.1 minutes and 5.9 points per game off the bench. The sophomore turned in a career performance against Coppin State, shooting 5-of-10 from the 3-point line and totaling 17 points. She ranks second on the squad from beyond the arc with a total 38 3-pointers.

Sophomores Jordan Ferrand and Addison Hirschman have appeared in 15 and 14 games, respective, while redshirt freshman Lauren Rongisch has played in 12.

Completing the Jackrabbit roster is a trio of new faces to South Dakota State.

The duo of Kallie Theisen and Tori Nelson have been routinely playing for South Dakota State. Nelson is averaging 22.8 minutes per game and Theisen is averaging 15.9. 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, while Theisen led the team with a career-best 12 rebounds in the contest. Nelson has started in 15 games for the Jackrabbits and is averaging 10.2 points per game in Summit League action.

Regan Nesheim helped lead Johnston High School to three consecutive state tournament appearances. She earned second-team all-state recognition as a senior after averaging 13.1 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocked shots per game. Nesheim will be redshirting this season.

SDSU is shooting 44.9 percent from the field, while averaging 38.6 rebounds per game. The Jackrabbit defense holds their opponents to 60.3 points and a 38.1 FG percentage. State averages 17.2 assists per game, while holding an assist/turnover ratio of 1.2.

Scouting North Dakota State
North Dakota State is led offensively by Michelle Gaislerova who is averaging 13.7 points per game. Emily Dietz and Rylee Nudell are averaging 11.2 and 9.7 points per game, respectively. Nudell is shooting a team-high 53.9 percent from the field

Dietz paces the defensive efforts with 7.7 rebounds per game and a total 14 blocks as she has started all 26 contests for the Bison.

Sofija Zivaljevic averages a team-best 3.1 assists per game while adding 9.1 points per game.

North Dakota State averages 68.8 points per game while its opponents score 71.1. The Bison are outrebounding their opposition, 39.3-35.8. NDSU is shooting 42 percent from the field and 29.7 from long distance.

Jory Collins is in his first season as head coach at North Dakota State.

Jackrabbits' Last Time Out
South Dakota State women's basketball fell to No. 20/15 South Dakota 77-67 Saturday afternoon on Senior Day at Frost Arena.

The Jackrabbits fell to 20-9 overall and 12-3 in Summit League play, while South Dakota improved to 26-2 overall and 15-0 in league play clinching the Summit League regular season title.

"Congratulations to them. They (South Dakota) played well," said head coach Aaron Johnston. "They made shots and that second half, they made every shot they needed to make. I thought we played certainly hard enough and at times, well enough. Just a little bit loose on offense and defense. There's just a few possessions here and there I wish we could go back and have different, but they just played really solid throughout. They played like a very experienced team out there."

Tagyn Larson led the Jacks and was just shy of a double-double with 18 points and nine rebounds while dishing four assists. Tori Nelson had 12 points, four rebounds and three assists. Paiton Burckhard added 11 points and pulled down five boards. Rylie Cascio Jensen had nine points and four assists, while Tylee Irwin had a team-best five assists.

The Jacks shot 48.1 percent from the field and outrebounded the Coyotes 29-22, including 12 offensive boards. SDSU outscored USD in the paint 36-24.

The Jacks and Coyotes went back and forth in the opening frame with no team holding more than a five-point lead. Stapleton's jumper at 3:22 ended a run of five unanswered South Dakota points. A Stapleton layup to beat the buzzer made it 17-14 Coyotes at the end of the first quarter.

USD extended its lead to eight following a 5-0 run to start the second quarter, but back-to-back Nelson baskets brought the Jacks back within five with 5:44 remaining in the half. Each team traded buckets to end the half with the Jacks trailing 35-26 heading into the locker room.

Coming out of the break, four-straight free throws by the Jacks made it a two-possession game (37-32). State outscored USD 10-6 to close out the quarter capped by a Burckhard buzzer-beating shot for the Jacks to cut the deficit to 52-45.

"The second quarter really hurt us," said Johnston. "I thought we got down and we were kind of playing catch up the rest of the way, but to their credit, like I said, when we made some runs and made things happen, they seem they hit a big shot that kept themselves in momentum and that was really big in that second half."

The final quarter opened with an 8-2 USD run. After the Coyotes took a game-high 15-point lead at 5:40, Larson and Lindsey Theuninck layups started an 11-3 Jackrabbit run, bringing the Jacks back within single digits. USD went a perfect 6-of-6 at the free throw line in the final 31 seconds to secure the win.

Opponents Last Time Out
GRAND FORKS, N.D. - All five North Dakota State starters scored in double figures Sunday, as the Bison women's basketball team defeated North Dakota 82-74. It was the first victory in Grand Forks since 2004 and the first regular season sweep of the Fighting Hawks since the 2003-04 season.

NDSU improved to 9-17 overall and 6-8 in the Summit League, while North Dakota dropped to 14-13 overall and 5-9 in league play. The Bison are now in sole possession of sixth place in the Summit League standings. NDSU returns to the Scheels Center for the final two regular season games of the year, starting on Thursday, Feb. 27 against South Dakota State. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. and is part of a doubleheader with the NDSU men, who will tipoff at 8 p.m. against the Jackrabbits.

Rylee Nudell and Sofija Zivaljevic led the Bison with 18 points apiece. Zivaljevic went over 400 points for her career in the game. Michelle Gaislerova added 16 points, while Ryan Cobbins and Emily Dietz had 11 and 10 respectively. Megan Zander had a game-high 20 points off the bench for the Fighting Hawks. Dietz finished with a game-high 10 rebounds, collecting her sixth double-double of the season. Zivaljevic and Nudell each had seven rebounds. Nudell moved into seventh in school history with 346 career defensive rebounds with six in the game. Zivaljevic had a team-high five assists, while Nudell tied a career-high with three steals. Dietz tied a season-high with a pair of blocked shots.

Gaislerova entered the game with an NCAA Division I women's record 74 consecutive made free throws. She made her first attempt of the game to extend the record to 75 before missing her second, snapping a streak that reached back to December 2018. Gaislerova made two additional free throws and currently sits at 98.2 percent for the season and 91.8 percent for her career.

NDSU was 37-of-59 (45.8%) from the floor and 5-of-14 (35.7%) from 3-point range. The Fighting Hawks were 28-of-70 (40%) from the field and 4-of-22 (18.2%) from downtown. NDSU entered the game ranked 37th in the nation in free throw percentage at 75.1, but went 23-of-39 (59%) in the game. North Dakota was 14-of-20 (70%) at the charity stripe. The Fighting Hawks had a 34-9 advantage in bench points, while both teams finished with 38 points in the paint.

The Bison scored the first points of the game, but North Dakota led for a majority of the first quarter. NDSU used an 11-2 run late in the first quarter to take the lead for good. The Bison used a 13-6 run over a 3:47 span in the second quarter to take a 42-30 lead, but Zander scored the final four points of the half to cut NDSU's lead to 42-34 at the break. North Dakota trimmed the lead to six with 8:24 left in the third quarter, but five-straight points from Nudell sparked a 12-5 run to give NDSU its largest lead of the game at 58-45 with 4:51 to play in the quarter. The Fighting Hawks scored nine-straight points after that and cut the lead to 60-58 into the fourth quarter. Jaclyn Jarnot tied the game at 60-60 with 8:15 to play, but Nudell drilled a 3-pointer with 7:58 left to give NDSU the lead for good.

A Win Would...

Improve South Dakota State to 53-39 in the all-time series
Advance the Jackrabbits to 21-9 on the season and 13-3 in the Summit League
Give SDSU nine straight victories over NDSU

Loss Would...

Improve North Dakota State to 52-40 all-time against South Dakota State

Jackrabbit Basketball Coaches Show
The Jackrabbit Basketball Coaches Show returns to Cubby's Sports Bar and Grill in downtown Brookings on Dec. 30. The hour-long show covering the 2019-20 basketball season tips off every Monday at 6 p.m. through March 2.

Hosted by Tyler Merriam, the weekly look at the South Dakota State basketball teams features interviews with head men's coach Eric Henderson and head women's coach Aaron Johnston, as well as segments with Jackrabbit student-athletes and members of the coaching staff.

Fans can attend in person and will be eligible for weekly drawings.

The show also airs live on flagship radio station WNAX 570 AM and Jackrabbit Sports Network affiliates, and can be heard live or on-demand for free via Jackrabbits All-Access and the Jackrabbit App.

A Decade of Success
As a new decade begins, the women's basketball program has a great amount of accomplishments to look back on.

247 program wins
.729 winning percentage
133 Summit League wins
30 All-Summit League Honorees
14 Individual Summit League Awards
9 wins over ranked opponents
8 Summit League Championships

1,000 Program Wins
The Jackrabbits reached the milestone of 1,000 program wins earlier this 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 474 of South Dakota State's 1,000 wins.

Tough Slate
The Jackrabbits faces two Power Five (ACC, SEC, Big 12, Big Ten, PAC-12) opponents during the 2019-20 season, including Oregon and Notre Dame.

Oregon, who SDSU fell to in the Sweet Sixteen, made it to the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament where it fell to the 2019 National Champions, Baylor, 72-67. Oregon is ranked No. 3 in both the AP and Coaches polls

Notre Dame came up short in the National Championship game to Baylor, 82-81. The Jackrabbits defeated Notre Dame, 65-59, at the Cancun Challenge on Nov. 29.

South Florida was ranked No. 21/20 when the Jackrabbits earned at 61-50 victory over the Bulls.

South Dakota ranks No. 20 in the AP poll and 12 in the Coaches polls

Florida Gulf Coast is ranked No. 23 in the Coaches poll and is receiving votes in the AP poll.

Preseason Recognition
Tagyn Larson and Myah Selland were named to the All-Summit League Preseason First Team, while Tylee Irwin earned All-Summit League Preseason Second Team accolades.

Jacks Tabbed Second in Preseason Poll
The Jackrabbits claimed a total of 496 points and 13 first place votes in the preseason poll. South Dakota was voted the favorite with 20 first place votes and 527 points, while Denver rounded out the top three with 394 points and a lone first place votes.

Summit League Titles

South Dakota State won its Summit League-leading sixth regular-season title in the program's 12 years in the league with a 15-1 record.
The Jackrabbits last won the regular-season title in 2013-14, finishing the league schedule 13-1.
SDSU also claimed titles in 2007-08, 2008-09, 2011-12 and 2012-13.
State has claimed nine Summit League tournament titles in the past 11 years.

Against Ranked Opponents

South Dakota State is 11-30 vs. ranked foes since 2006-07. It is 6-5 in Frost Arena, 3-14 on the road and 1-9 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.
Most recently, South Dakota State defeated No. 21/20-ranked USF, 61-50 and fell to No. 3 Oregon (95-56) and a ranked South Dakota on two occasions.

-GoJacks.com-

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Players Mentioned

Megan Bultsma

Paiton Burckhard

Rylie Cascio Jensen

Jordan Ferrand

Addison Hirschman

Tylee Irwin

Tagyn Larson

Tori Nelson

Regan Nesheim

Lauren Rongisch

Myah Selland

Sydney Stapleton

Kallie Theisen

Lindsey Theuninck

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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