Jacks beat WIU, return to Summit League championship game
SIOUX FALLS — Maria Boever scored a career-high 28 points and Kristin Rotert added 19, tallying her 1,000th career point in the process, to lead the South Dakota State University women’s basketball team to a return trip to the Summit League championship game with a 67-39 victory over Western Illinois on Monday, March 8.
The third-seeded Jackrabbits, winners of 10 of their last 11 games, improved to 21-10 overall. SDSU will face top-seeded Oral Roberts, 23-8 overall, in the championship game Tuesday, March 9. Tipoff is slated for 3 p.m. at the Sioux Falls Arena, with live television coverage on ESPNU.
Boever set the pace early on, scoring 17 of the Jackrabbits’ first 25 points as SDSU built a 15-point lead midway through the first half. Three-pointers by Rotert and Macie Michelson, along with two Rotert free throws, extended the Jackrabbit lead to 16 — their largest lead of the opening half at 33-17.
Western Illinois put together a 9-2 run late in the half before two more free throws by Rotert gave SDSU a 37-26 lead at intermission.
The Jackrabbits delivered the knockout punch with a 10-1 run to open the second half. Ketty Cornemann hit a three-pointer to jump-start the run, and Rotert and Boever also connected on three-balls to give SDSU a 20-point edge.
For the second consecutive day, the SDSU defense held an opponent to five field goals in a half. On March 7 against IPFW it was the first half, but on March 8 against Western Illinois it was the second half. The Fighting Leathernecks mustered only 25 percent (5-of-20) shooting from the field and managed to score only 13 points in the final 20 minutes.
Boever scored her 28 points on 11-of-17 shooting from the field, including 2-for-3 from three-point range. She also completed her team-high fourth double-double of the season with a game-high 10 rebounds to lead the Jackrabbits’ 37-29 advantage on the glass.
SDSU shot 43.6 percent from the field, making 24-of-55 attempts from the floor, including 7-of-25 from three-point range. The Jackrabbits set a season-high for free throw percentage, making 12-of-13 from the stripe, 12-of-13.
Western Illinois, 11-20 overall, finished the game 16-of-47 from the field, 34 percent, including 2-for-15 from three-point range. At the line, the Fighting Leathernecks were 5-for-8, 62.5 percent.
Erica Lewis led WIU with 11 points.
NOTES: SDSU leads the all-time series with Western Illinois, 6-1 … the Jackrabbits improved to 5-0 in Summit League postseason games … Boever’s 28 points were the most by a Jackrabbit player this season … Boever’s previous career high was 23 points at Northern Iowa during the 2008-09 season … Boever also tied a career high with five steals … Jennifer Schuttloffel tallied a career-high six assists … Rotert reached the 1,000-point mark on a pair of free throws at the 15:12 mark of the first half, giving SDSU a 15-6 lead … with Ketty Cornemann, Boever and Rotert reaching the milestone this season, SDSU has three 1,000-point scorers on its roster at the same time for the third time in program history: the 1993-94 senior class featured Jodi Bergemann, Rachel Halsrud and Lisa Kannegieter, while the 1995-96 senior class featured Dawn Hull, Ann Just and Erin Reiten) … Rotert, who has made eight three-pointers in the two tournament games, upped her career total to 181, passing Lisa Kurtenbach (179 threes from 1986-89) for fifth place in SDSU history … Rotert ended the game in 28th place on the career scoring chart with 1,017 points, moving past Sarita DeBoer (1,003 points from 2002-05) … SDSU was 10-of-10 at the firee throw line in the first half … SDSU is 20-2 this season when leading at the half and 16-4 when out-rebounding its opponents … attendance was 3,817
Source: SDSU Sports Info