IRWIN LIFTS JACKS PAST BISON

Saturday, February 20

Fargo, N.D.

5 p.m.

South Dakota State University

19-2,12-0Summit League

North Dakota State

14-6,9-5Summit League

South Dakota St.

North Dakota St.

Photo by: NDSU Athletics

2/20/2021 8:20:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

FARGO, N.D. - No. 23/25 South Dakota State women's basketball won its 16th consecutive game and remained undefeated in conference play with a 69-60 win over North Dakota State Saturday night.

The Jackrabbits, who clinched a share of the league regular season title, are now 19-2 and 12-0 in Summit League play. The Jacks shot 47.9 percent from the field, recorded five blocks and won the steal battle, 11-2.

After scoring a career-high 25 points in last night's win, Tylee Irwin came up big once again tonight, scoring 31 points on 11-of-15 shooting, including 4-for-5 from 3-point range and surpassing the 1,000 point mark. Irwin added three rebounds, two assists and two blocks to her statline. Paiton Burckhard scored eight of her 11 points in the second half while recording six rebounds and two steals. Madysen Vlastuin made all three of her 3-point attempts beyond the arch to total her nine points. Lindsey Theuninck and Haley Greer each scored five points, recorded three rebounds, two assists and combined for five steals.

"I thought they played incredibly hard and I thought from the beginning to the end we were incredibly focused, intense and competitive," head coach Aaron Johnston said. "Our defense tonight at times was better than we were last night at times, so I thought they adjusted very well. We had to switch some things up based on how we struggled with North Dakota State's sets yesterday, so we threw a lot at them overnight and our team just handled those things really well. We were locked in and played incredibly hard."

Irwin's career day started in the first quarter, scoring the first four Jackrabbit points and eight of the team's 13 points in the quarter. Four of her eight points came on a 6-0 Jackrabbit run to give SDSU a 13-8 lead with 1:36 to play in the first. NDSU closed the quarter on a 5-0 run to tie the game at 13-all.

The Bison extended their run to seven unanswered to open the quarter, but Irwin ended the spurt with a 3-pointer to put the Jacks back up (16-15) at the 8:13 mark. NDSU held a four-point lead until Mesa Byom's layup launched an 8-0 run over the next two minutes to put the Jacks up 24-20 with 5:20 remaining in the half. Irwin scored the final six Jackrabbit points, all on jump shots, to give the Jacks a 30-24 lead at halftime.

Consecutive 3-pointers by Irwin inside the six minute mark gave the Jacks their largest lead to that point at 40-31. A 5-0 run by NDSU made it a two possession game with 2:31 to play, but Vlastuin responded by hitting a 3-pointer on the next possession to put the Jacks up by seven. State and the Bison went back and forth in the final two minutes to leave the score at 48-43 at the end of the third.

Both teams combined to make just four field goals in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter but the Jacks remained in front 55-51. NDSU came as close as 57-54 with just over four minutes to play, but a 7-0 SDSU run put the Jacks up by double digits for the first time in the game. Five free throws in the final 1:08 secured a 69-60 Jackrabbit win.

"Regan (Nesheim) came back and gave us great minutes, rebounded and defended like crazy," Johnston said "We needed all 31 of (Irwin's) points today, that was fantastic for her to step up. Paiton was really good. So just a lot of people rose to that challenge after a difficult night in dealing with some of the other things that went on so I'm just really happy for the team. I thought their competitiveness was the thing I'm most proud of. Obviously getting a win yesterday, but just the way they responded to some challenges, moving people around and really getting focused for an important game here."

Game Notes

South Dakota State improved to 56-39 against North Dakota State in the all-time series, including 15 consecutive SDSU wins and the 23rd win in the last 24 meetings.
The Jackrabbits have now won at least a share of seven Summit League regular season titles
Irwin becomes the 39th Jackrabbit in program history to join the 1,000 point club
Tonight marks the second time the season a Jackrabbit player scored 30-or-more points. The previous player to do so was Selland at Oral Roberts Feb. 14.
Nesheim's three rebounds is a career high
Vlastuin finished the weekend 5-for-5 from 3-point range

Up next
South Dakota State is scheduled to return home to wrap up the regular season against Kansas City Feb. 26-27. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. both nights inside Frost Arena.

-GoJacks.com-