BROOKINGS The South Dakota State women will look to improve their win streak to 13 games on Thursday as the Jackrabbits return to Frost Arena to play Kansas City.
SDSU has won its first 10 games of Summit League play and the Jacks find themselves in a familiar spot as they have a two-game lead for the top spot in the conference with six games to play.
SDSU head coach Aaron Johnston said his team is going to take it game by game and not focus on the standings even though SDSU has won 41-straight games against conference opponents.
I think we are as good as we can be today and were measured on it today. Its a two-game lead we have right now and that can change in one weekend. I think we all understand that things have not settled and have not really finalized and theres still a lot of basketball to be played. I think weve gone through enough where our team is really mature and really focused. I think they understand that our goal is to be productive today, Johnston said.
Despite starting conference play 10-0, SDSU has faced a lot of adversity this season. The Jacks lost Haleigh Timmer and Kallie Thesien to season-ending injuries before the season started and two weeks ago Madysen Vlastuin was ruled out for the season as well after a knee injury against North Dakota State. Johnston said his team has dealt with adversity the same way they would if it was something that was happening in their everyday lives.
I think weve all kind of collectively worked at [keeping the morale up after the injuries], Johnston said. I think this year theres been a lot of conversations of hey, how are we doing? How are we feeling? How are we playing? And theyve been really questions, and weve tried to really listen to our team a lot. Its really been a healthy thing and a productive thing. Its forced us to make sure everybody has that space to communicate with what theyre going through.
We havent just wallowed in that space, but we recognize that space and understand its real. We havent also said that were just going to focus on basketball and dig in and put everything aside because thats not realistic either. So, I think weve kind of lived in both of those spaces and worked through them in a normal human way. The same way that any of us would do at home with our families.
In the two games since Vlastuins injury the Jacks beat South Dakota 70-55 and Oral Roberts 103-77 and both games were on the road. Sophomore guard Ellie Colbeck stepped up in both of those games and has become a bit of a sharpshooter. The Fergus Falls, Minn. native has gone 10-of-14 from three in the past two games and has scored 35 points. Both games she scored a career-high and Johnston said Colbecks success is a result of her making the most of the opportunity presented in front of her.
Ellie has gotten herself to a place where shes really confident in what she can do to help us. When you get that confidence, people can just take off. Weve had a lot of players do that. Ellie is in that place right now where she has not accepted her role, but embraced it. And that comes from the work she put in before this moment to prepare herself, Johnston said.
The injury to Vlastuin opened a spot in the starting lineup and Johnston opted to go with a bigger lineup and has started 6-foot-2 junior forward Mesa Byom alongside 6-foot-2 sophomore forward Brooklyn Meyer. Johnston said he went with the twin tower lineup because both players can play both under the basket and around the perimeter.
One of the things with Mesa, shes just super versatile. Her length is impressive. Shes all of 6-foot-2, she can rebound and block shots. Shes a really good perimeter shooter and that will be a part of her game that continues to grow. Brooklyn Meyer is such a good passer on the perimeter and comfortable playing away from the basket. So, how we can use Mesa and Brooklyn together now is a good opportunity for our team, where before they were playing opposite of each other, Johnston said.
SDSU beat Kansas City (11-15, 2-9) 72-49 in Kansas City on Jan. 25. The Jacks have outscored their conference opponents by 261 points so far this season and only one game has been decided by less than 10 points.
The Jacks and Roos are scheduled to tip things off at 7 p.m. on Thursday and the game will be broadcasted on Midco Sports Two and the Summit League Network. SDSU will remain at Frost Arena this weekend as it will play Omaha on Saturday at 2 p.m. You can watch that game on Midco Sports and SLN.
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