Courtesy: The Summit League

SIOUX FALLS -- South Dakota State raced out to an early 10-point lead and never looked back in its Summit League Championship opener, defeating Oral Roberts (Okla.), 77-49, Saturday afternoon at the Sioux Falls Arena.

The Jackrabbits, ranked 14th in the USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll and 17th by the Associated Press, posted their 15th consecutive victory to improve to 29-2. Oral Roberts ends its season at 13-17.

SDSU never trailed, scoring on its opening possession and building the lead to 15-5 on a Macie Michelson jumper at the 13-minute, 41-second mark of the first half. The Jackrabbits continued to extend their lead, reaching 23 on back-to back three-pointers by Jill Young.

Young, who made seven triples earlier in the week at ORU, canned all four of her first-half threes-point attempts and 5-of-6 for the game en route to 16 points.

With Young hitting from the outside, Maria Boever was taking care of buisiness in the paint for the Jackrabbits, tallying a game-high 21 points on 10-of-12 shooting from the field.

SDSU led 44-18 at halftime and built the margin to as many as 37 points, 68-31, midway through the second half.

Michelson, a sophomore point guard, dished out a career-high eight assists and added eight points. As a team, the Jackrabbits tied a season high with 22 assists. Ten different players recorded at least one assist in the game.

The Jackrabbits finished the game 30-of-62 from the field, 48.4 percent, including 7-of-26 from three-point range. At the line, SDSU made 10-of-14 attempts, 71.4 percent.

Stacie Oistad led all players with seven rebounds to lead the Jackrabbits' 37-30 rebounding advantage.

Oral Roberts shot 21-of-52 from the field, 40.4 percent, and was 5-of-16 from behind the arc. The Golden Eagles attempted only four free throws, making two for 50 percent.

ORU also was hindered by 21 turnovers, compared to 12 by the Jackrabbits.

SDSU advances to semifinal action Monday with a noon tipoff against the winner of Sunday's quarterfinal between fourth-seeded IUPUI and fifth-seeded IPFW.

NOTES: SDSU leads the series against Oral Roberts, 4-1, after winning all three meetings this season ... the Jackrabbits held a 30-26 advantage in bench points ... Michelson's eight assists were the most by a Jackrabbit player this season ... Jennifer Warkenthien scored eight points to move into 16th place on the SDSU career scoring chart with 1,277 points, passing Jodi Bergemann (1,270 points from 1991-94) ... Warkenthien also moved into sole possession of eighth place on the Jackrabbit career rebounding chart wtih 739, breaking a tie with Deb Van Klei (734 rebounds from 1986-89) ... SDSU's 29 victories this season are the second most in school history, trailing the 2002-03 NCAA Division II national championship team that compiled a 32-3 record ... the Jackrabbits are 25-1 this season when leading at the half and 22-0 when out-rebounding an opponent ... SDSU allowed fewer than 50 points for the 14th time this season ... the victory was No. 222 for Jackrabbit head coach Aaron Johnston