SIOUX FALLS — The South Dakota State University women’s basketball team will make its second consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament, surviving in overtime for a 79-75 victory over Oral Roberts (Okla.) in the Summit League Championship before a crowd of 5,460 at the Sioux Falls Arena.
The third-seeded Jackrabbits improved to 22-10 overall, winning for the 10th time in 11 games. Pairings for the NCAA Tournament will be announced on Monday, March 15.
SDSU held a 69-60 lead after a layup by tournament MVP
Maria Boever with under four minutes to play in regulation. Oral Roberts came back to tie the game at 69-all with 48 seconds remaining in regulation after the Jackrabbits turned the ball over on five consecutive possessions.
The Jackrabbits missed a pair of shots in the final 35 seconds before a last-second three-point attempt by Oral Roberts rimmed off the back iron
In overtime, the Jackrabbits never trailed.
Kristin Rotert scored the first basket of the extra session and
Jennifer Schuttloffel added a pair of free throws to put SDSU up 73-69 with two minutes remaining.
ORU cut the margin to one point twice in the final 25 seconds, but
Jill Young and
Ketty Cornemann each made two free throws to keep the Golden Eagles at arm’s length. With SDSU leading 78-75 in the final 10 seconds, Rotert stripped Kevi Luper of the ball and then sank one of two free throws to seal the victory.
The Jackrabbits made 8-of-11 free throw attempts in overtime and 14-of-19 tries at the charity stripe for the game, 73.7 percent.
Although Oral Roberts tied the game to force overtime, SDSU led for the majority of the game. The Golden Eagles held an early 10-5 lead before Cornemann and Rotert hit back-to-back three-pointers to put the Jackrabbits out front 21-19.
The Jackrabbits continued to connect from long range as they extended their lead to seven on a triple by
Macie Michelson with 4:53 remaining in the half. Michelson nailed another three-pointer with three seconds remaining in the half to put the Jackrabbits ahead 44-37 at halftime.
In all, SDSU went 9-of-21 from three-point range in the opening half, including four by Rotert.
SDSU pushed its advantage to 10 points in the opening minute of the second half, before ORU drew back to withone one, 57-56, on a three-pointer by Luper. The Jackrabbit defense held ORU without another field goal for more than seven minutes until Jordan Pyle ended the drought with 3:26 remaining and help jump-start the late Golden Eagle run.
Rotert tied a career-high with six three-pointers en route to a team-high 21 points. Boever added 18 points, while Cornemann posted her second double-double of the season with 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead SDSU’s 41-36 edge on the glass.
The Jackrabbits finished the afternoon 26-of-61 from the field, 42.6 percent, including 13-of-38 from three-point range. SDSU tied the tournament record for three-pointers made they set Sunday against IPFW and also established a new tournament record for three-point attempts.
ORU placed four players in double figures, led by Jaci Bigham’s 28 points. Luper tallied 17 points, while Pyle finished with 12 points and Janae Voelker added 10 points and nine rebounds.
The Jackrabbits overcame 26 turnovers by forcing ORU in 24 miscues and holding the Golden Eagles to 38.7 percent (24-of-62) shooting from the floor. The Golden Eagles were 11-of-25 from three-point range and 16-of-18 at the free throw line.
Boever was joined on the all-tournament team by Rotert and Cornemann. Bigham and Luper represented ORU.
NOTES: SDSU leads the all-time series 5-3 ... the Jackrabbits improved to 6-0 in Summit League postseason tournament games ... SDSU has won seven consecutive overtime games, including all four it has played against Division I opponents ... Rotert made 14 three-pointers in the three tournament games to up her career total to 187, moving past Ann Just (182 three-pointers from 1993-96) for fourth place on the career charts ... Rotert also established a new career high with six assists ... Young made one three-pointer to take over sole possession of 10th place with 143 career trifectas, breaking a tie with Rachel Halsrud (1991-94) ... Boever tallied 66 points in the three tournament games and jumped two more spots on the SDSU career scoring chart to 14th with 1,348 points, passing both Pat Dobratz (1,334 points form 1971-74) and Angie Swenson (1,335 points from 1994-97) and moving to within a point of former teammate
Jennifer Warkenthien (1,349 points from 2006-09) ... SDSU is the only top-seeded team to win the Summit League tournament in the last 12 years, winning the postseason title as the top seed in 2009
Courtesy: South Dakota State University
