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Interior dominance paves the way for Jackrabbit women to return to Summit title game

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Interior dominance paves the way for Jackrabbit women to return to Summit title game


SIOUX FALLS — “Honestly, they’re huge. The other team is just ginormous.”

In those simple, succinct words from North Dakota’s Kiera Pemberton summarizes what every other team in the Summit League is up against when the South Dakota State University women’s basketball team hits the court.

SDSU was bigger and better than the Fighting Hawks in every way on Saturday in the Summit League tournament semifinals, as SDSU pulled away for an 84-55 win at the Premier Center. The Jackrabbits advance to the Summit League title game at 3 p.m. Sunday against either No. 2 Oral Roberts or No. 6 Kansas City, playing for a third consecutive tournament title and fourth NCAA bid in the last five seasons.

The Jacks, now 28-3 on the season, dominated in the stats under the basket. SDSU had a 42-12 edge in points in the paint and a 22-4 margin in second-chance scoring. They outrebounded UND 54-26, including pulling down 18 offensive rebounds and for much of the game, they had as many offensive rebounds as UND had defensive rebounds, illustrating that it was a 50/50 proposition for who would grab a rebound every time the Jacks’ missed a shot.

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SDSU’s Brooklyn Meyer goes up for a shot over UND’s Miranda VanderWal during a Summit League women’s basketball tournament semifinal game on Saturday, March 8, 2025 at the Premier Center in Sioux Falls.

Nathan Swaffar / Mitchell Republic

And SDSU didn’t have too many issues on offense anyway. Brooklyn Meyer was a force at the forward spot with 22 points and 10 rebounds on 9-for-15 shooting, while Mesa Byom had 11 points and six rebounds. The Jacks also have 6-foot-1 Kallie Thiesen that they can get in the mix, and SDSU coach Aaron Johnston said they’ve started playing Meyer and Thiesen together more to go with the typical Byom and Meyer starting pair.

That attention Meyer gets frees up everyone else. Haleigh Timmer had 14 points and 10 rebounds from a guard spot and point guard Paige Meyer was terrific in her penultimate Summit League tournament game as a senior, scoring 17 points.

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“I think that’s really important for us, and it’s a big part of our identity as a team, rebounding and being big down low,” Byom said. “I think that kind of gets us going, and then when we’re not getting shots from outside, that’s just our steady, and we did really good with that today.”

Counting Saturday, the trio of Byom, Thiesen and Brooklyn Meyer have played 368 games for the Jackrabbits in their career, with 13 seasons of combined experience. And Johnston pointed out they all play well off each other as a “really talented rotation.”

“Part of why they’re able to play the way they do is they can defend not only inside, but we switch a lot of screens,” Johnston said. “So they’re out on the perimeter chasing guards around and playing defense, you know, sideline to sideline, and that’s hard. A lot of coaches don’t do that, but that group is really talented.”

UND coach Mallory Bernhard said after the game that they had three different ways to play Brooklyn Meyer defensively, trying to front her in the post, play behind her on the block and also not guarding others to put more attention on the 6-foot-2 star Jacks’ center.

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2025 Summit League Tournament

UND’s Miranda VanderWal boxes out SDSU’s Kallie Theisen during a Summit League women’s basketball tournament semifinal game on Saturday, March 8, 2025 at the Premier Center in Sioux Falls.

Nathan Swaffar / Mitchell Republic

“The whole game plan was based around how we can give her different looks and what might be the trickle-down effect from that,” Bernhard said. “Because you just can’t give her one look all game. She’s too talented, and AJ is way too good of a coach.”

North Dakota got fine production from its 6-foot-1 sophomore forward Pemberton, who had 23 points through three quarters. But UND had only 22 points from everyone else and shot 29.3% from the field, including 2-for-10 on layups.

“At the end of the day, rebounds just absolutely killed us,” Bernhard said.

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They’ve killed a lot of teams this season, with SDSU now 23-0 this season when they’ve outrebounded their opponents.

2025 Summit League Tournament

SDSU’s Brooklyn Meyer and UND’s Nevaeh Ferrara Horne fight for a rebound during a Summit League women’s basketball tournament semifinal game on Saturday, March 8, 2025 at the Premier Center in Sioux Falls.

Nathan Swaffar / Mitchell Republic

The Jackrabbits are now seeking their 12th Summit tournament title since 2009 and improved to 39-5 all-time in the conference tournament. Saturday’s win was the 11th time in tournament history the Jacks’ have scored 80 points or more and have won each time.

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SDSU is in that familiar championship position again on Sunday as a large favorite in the conference title game.

“(We have) another opportunity to compete for a tournament title, which I know we’ll be excited about,” Johnston said.

Marcus Traxler

Marcus Traxler is the assistant editor and sports editor for the Mitchell Republic. A past winner of the state’s Outstanding Young Journalist award and the 2023 South Dakota Sportswriter of the Year, he’s worked for the newspaper since 2014 and covers a wide variety of topics. A Minnesota native, Traxler can be reached at mtraxler@mitchellrepublic.com.

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SD Lottery Powerball, Lotto America winning numbers for July 6, 2026

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The South Dakota Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.

Here’s a look at July 6, 2026, results for each game:

Winning Powerball numbers from July 6 drawing

17-44-63-66-67, Powerball: 04, Power Play: 2

Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.

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Winning Lotto America numbers from July 6 drawing

12-16-19-21-23, Star Ball: 10, ASB: 03

Check Lotto America payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from July 6 drawing

02-08-32-54-56, Bonus: 03

Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

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Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your prize

  • Prizes of $100 or less: Can be claimed at any South Dakota Lottery retailer.
  • Prizes of $101 or more: Must be claimed from the Lottery. By mail, send a claim form and a signed winning ticket to the Lottery at 711 E. Wells Avenue, Pierre, SD 57501.
  • Any jackpot-winning ticket for Dakota Cash or Lotto America, top prize-winning ticket for Lucky for Life, or for the second prizes for Powerball and Mega Millions must be presented in person at a Lottery office. A jackpot-winning Powerball or Mega Millions ticket must be presented in person at the Lottery office in Pierre.

When are the South Dakota Lottery drawings held?

  • Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
  • Mega Millions: 10 p.m. CT on Tuesday and Friday.
  • Lucky for Life: 9:38 p.m. CT daily.
  • Lotto America: 9:15 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
  • Dakota Cash: 9 p.m. CT on Wednesday and Saturday.
  • Millionaire for Life: 10:15 p.m. CT daily.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a South Dakota editor. You can send feedback using this form.



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South Dakota native lived near Iranian missile & drone attacks

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South Dakota native lived near Iranian missile & drone attacks


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Water hampers growth near Sioux Falls but solution near

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Water hampers growth near Sioux Falls but solution near


The existing water treatment plant for the Minnehaha Community Water Corp. on June 9, 2026, south of Dell Rapids, S.D. (Photo: Bart Pfankuch / South Dakota News Watch)

Bart Pfankuch

Content Director
605-937-9398
bart.pfankuch@sdnewswatch.org

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DELL RAPIDS, S.D. – Scott Buss can only imagine what this town north of Sioux Falls might have looked like – and how many jobs and taxes would have been generated – if there wasn’t a local shortage of available water.

Buss, executive director of the Minnehaha Community Water Corp., sat in the conference room of the rural water system based in Dell Rapids recently and ticked off the industrial and agricultural projects turned away due to a lack of water.

After hitting its limit on how much water it can provide a few years ago, the rural system has had to turn away proposed projects valued at hundreds of millions of dollars that offered an untold number of new jobs, he said.

The rejected projects include the Agropur Cheese plant that eventually opened in Lake Norden. A few proposed hog farms and dairy expansions in northern Minnehaha County were also stalled, Buss said.

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Other proposals, most of which never came to fruition in South Dakota, included the $1.5 billion Gevo corn-based jet fuel plant, the $5oo million Wholestone Farms hog processing plant and a data center that at some point all eyed the Dell Rapids area for development.

“All the water rights are spoken for between Dell Rapids and Sioux Falls, so there was no more water to be had in Minnehaha County,” Buss told News Watch in an interview in June. “With all the (residential) development that was coming in, we realized that our well capacity and our treatment capacity was limiting our ability to take on new high water-use customers.”

Scott Buss is pictured in his office
Scott Buss on June 9, 2026, who manages the Minnehaha Community Water Corp. near Dell Rapids, S.D. (Photo: Bart Pfankuch / South Dakota News Watch)

Buss and the nonprofit corporation’s board of directors aren’t waiting around to potentially miss out on more opportunities.

In a unique arrangement, the corporation is partnering with the neighboring Big Sioux Community Water System to the north on a $170 million expansion project called Shared Resources. The expansion, started three years ago, will use new wells into the Big Sioux Aquifer to generate 8 million gallons of water more per day starting this fall.

“It’s going to be a huge and great benefit for Big Sioux and Minnehaha water,” said Jodi Johanson, director of the Big Sioux system based in Egan. “This project is going to make sure that down the road we have enough water for the future.”

2 systems get stronger together

The Minnehaha water corporation is still able to bring on new residential and retail customers who consume part of the 9.2 million gallons of treated water it can provide on a daily basis.

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The system was formed by a group of farmers and landowners in the 1970s but sought a reliable way of providing more and cleaner water to residents of Minnehaha County outside of Sioux Falls who relied exclusively on individual wells. The system started with about 1,200 customers but has grown to more than 5,500 now in seven cities, mostly north of the Sioux Falls metro area.

Given the limits on water from the aquifer, and balancing the water needs of consistent housing and retail growth in northern Minnehaha County, the water system had to say no to developments that request 1 million or more gallons of water per day, Buss said. A million gallons per day is equivalent to the water consumption of about 4,300 homes, he said.

Billions needed to keep South Dakota taps flowing

South Dakota water systems will increasingly turn to the Missouri River to provide water for future population, agricultural and industrial growth. But plans will require billions of dollars and decades of construction to keep taps flowing freely.

As with other rural water systems in South Dakota, the aquifers the systems rely on for their water are either running low or are legally tapped out, or both.

In the case of Minnehaha water corporation, the Big Sioux River Aquifer has gotten drier, but state law is also preventing it from taking more water from the aquifer.

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In 1996, the state Water Management Board allocated water rights, or withdrawal limits, to systems that take groundwater from the aquifer, Buss said.

Those limits have now been reached, meaning that Minnehaha water cannot take any more than the 7 million gallons per day it is drawing now.

The system also receives about 2 million gallons per day from the Lewis & Clark Regional Water System, making its daily maximum capacity of about 9.2 million gallons per day, which it sometimes reaches, especially during spring planting season or hot summer months.

The aquifer under the Big Sioux River in Dell Rapids
The aquifer under the Big Sioux River, shown here in Dell Rapids, S.D., on June 9, 2026, is the source of fresh water for much of eastern South Dakota. (Photo: Bart Pfankuch / South Dakota News Watch)

Directly to the north, the Big Sioux Community Water System produces up to 2 million gallons per day for about 2,400 customers in Moody and Lake counties as well as some in Brookings County and in western Minnesota, Johanson said.

The system still has room within its water rights to draw more water, making it an attractive partner for Minnehaha water.

Though Big Sioux Community Water System has not turned away any large projects, it needs more water to serve a boom in residential growth in the region, Johanson said.

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In the area around Lake Madison, near Madison, developers are considering projects that could someday bring 500 new homes and a new nine-hole golf course, she said.

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The system also serves a number of dairies that use significant water and provides water to the Dakota Ethanol plant in Wentworth, which is undergoing an expansion. Farmers in the region are also using greater quantities of water to deliver chemicals onto their land, Johanson said.

“This is our first expansion,” she said. “We’re looking forward and we’re trying to find the solution before we face a problem.”

Federal government and customers pay the way

The biggest Shared Resources ticket item is a new $80 million water treatment plant that is nearly completed on 240th Street a few miles north of Dell Rapids.

A 20-inch pipeline from the plant to the east will end at a 1.5 million gallon water tower, and a 24-inch pipeline to the west will terminate at a ground-level storage tank with a 4 million gallon capacity.

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Six new wells will draw the water, and the storage tanks will provide both pressure and the ability to adapt to changing demands without service interruption, Buss said.

A new $80 million water treatment plant under construction on June 9, 2026, north of Dell Rapids
A new $80 million water treatment plant under construction on June 9, 2026, north of Dell Rapids, S.D. (Photo: Bart Pfankuch / South Dakota News Watch)

As with most modern water projects, the costs will be shared by government and end users. The systems are funding the project with $49 million in grants from the Biden-era American Rescue Plan Act and $121 million in low-interest loans from South Dakota’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund.

The two systems are sharing the cost of the project loans commensurate with how much water they will receive, meaning Minnehaha will pay 65% of the costs for its 5 million gallons per day while Big Sioux will kick in 35% for its 3 million gallons more per day.

Minnehaha water is assuming $87 million in new debt and Big Sioux will take on $42 million in new debt, Buss said.

The average residential consumer in both systems that uses about 7,000 gallons per month will see their bill rise to $135 a month, roughly double the cost in 2020.

“It’s a big project, and it’s a good example of how two systems can work together to have some economies of scale,” Buss said.

Ratepayers will see a significant increase in their monthly water bills. The average residential consumer in both systems that uses about 7,000 gallons per month will see their bill rise to $135 a month, roughly double the cost in 2020, Buss said.

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A big project, but even more water needed

But both systems view the Shared Resources project as a temporary fix and both are looking toward proposed projects that will tap the Missouri River for more water in the future.

Buss said his system has applied for 10 million gallons more water per day from Lewis & Clark, which has two expansion efforts planned.

Minnehaha water has simultaneously applied to receive 10 million gallons per day from the proposed Dakota Mainstem Regional Water System, a potentially $10 billion project to carry Missouri River water to more than 50 communities and organizations across eastern South Dakota and parts of Minnesota and Iowa.

A 1.5 million gallon water tower under construction June, 9, 2026, near Dell Rapids, S.D.
A 1.5 million gallon water tower under construction June, 9, 2026, near Dell Rapids, S.D., as part of the Shared Resources expansion effort by two rural water systems. (Photo: Bart Pfankuch / South Dakota News Watch)

The dual application effort is to make sure Minnehaha water can rely on taking in more water from at least one of the two systems as they come online, Buss said.

Johanson said Big Sioux has also signed on to accept water from Dakota Mainstem, even if it takes 20 to 40 years for the water to begin flowing.

To ensure that steady supply of high-quality drinking water, four major projects are in progress to take more water from the Missouri River – including WEB Water in the northeast, Lewis & Clark and the proposed Dakota Mainstem in the southeast as well as the proposed Western Dakota Regional Water System in western South Dakota and the Black Hills.

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A map for the Shared Resources water project shows the proposed watermain lines.

The projects are part of a wide-scale increase in water service capacity now underway in South Dakota, where water managers of several systems are implementing plans to serve the state for the next 40 to 50 years.

Regional rural water systems such as Minnehaha and Big Sioux are critical components of those projects because they provide water to communities and individual customers at the end of the delivery system.

Alicia Deschepper, zoning administrator for Moody County, said the water system expansions should allow for more growth to occur in Moody and Minnehaha counties, which are seeing new single-family housing developed at a rapid rate.

“I think it will be a great thing for our county and hopefully enable us to bring in more bigger businesses as well as more homes,” Deschepper said.

South Dakota News Watch is an independent nonprofit. Read, donate and subscribe for free at sdnewswatch.orgContact content director Bart Pfankuch: 605-937-9398/bart.pfankuch@sdnewswatch.org.

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