South Dakota State travels to Vermillion Saturday to take on South Dakota in this season's first of two games in the Interstate Series presented by First Interstate Bank.
The Jackrabbits are 16-3 on the season with a 6-0 mark in Summit League action. SDSU used a 25-14 fourth quarter to rally past St. Thomas in St. Paul Wednesday night and extend its Summit League regular season win streak to 53 games. In St. Paul, the Jacks shot better than 50 percent for the fifth straight game and ninth overall time this season.
The Coyotes are 9-11 on the year and 3-3 in conference games. They have dropped each of the last two - at North Dakota (80-54) and vs. North Dakota State (72-53). Senior Grace Larkins leads USD in scoring (24.1), rebounds (9.5), assists (5.5) and minutes (37.1).
Against conference opponents, SDSU leads the way in scoring offense (83.5 PPG) and scoring margin (19.7 PPG) while ranking second in scoring defense (63.8). Comparatively, USD is fifth in offense (67.9 PPG) and defense (71.8 PPG) and sixth in scoring margin (-4.8 PPG).
KEY STORYLINES
- South Dakota State heads to Vermillion with a 16-3 overall record and 6-0 mark in conference games. The Jackrabbits have won five straight against the Coyotes and eight of the last 10 meetings.
- South Dakota State is the top ranked team in the latest College Insider Mid-Major Poll and is receiving votes in both the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll.
- SDSU has five players scoring at least 10 points in conference games - Brooklyn Meyer, Madison Mathiowetz, Haleigh Timmer, Paige Meyer and Katie Vasecka. The Jackrabbits are one of seven teams in the country with that distinction.
- As a team, the Jackrabbits are averaging 83.5 points per game and shooting .523 from the floor in conference games. Both marks lead the Summit League. The Jacks' .476 overall field goal percentage ranks 13th in the country.
- Defensively, SDSU holds its conference opponents to 63.8 PPG and a .406 clip, both of which are second in the Summit League.
- Brooklyn Meyer averages 17.2 PPG and is shooting .619 on the season, which ranks ninth in the country. She has seven 20+ point games this year, including four of the last five.
- Paige Meyer dishes 6.2 assists per game in Summit League action, which leads the conference. She has tallied 28 total assists over the last three games.
- Katie Vasecka scored 20 points off the bench for the second time this season at St. Thomas Wednesday night. She scored 10 during SDSU's 25-14 fourth-quarter surge in the Twin Cities.
- SDSU has won 53 straight Summit League regular season games. That streak ranks top 10 in NCAA history for consecutive regular season conference victories.
-GoJacks.com-