South Dakota
JACKRABBITS HOST HAWKS FOR PLAY4KAY GAME – South Dakota State University Athletics
South Dakota State returns to First Bank & Trust Arena this week to host North Dakota in the annual Play4Kay game Thursday and Kansas City on Saturday afternoon for the Jackrabbits’ National Girls & Women in Sports celebration.
The Jackrabbits are 18-6 overall and 8-2 in league play. SDSU beat St. Thomas, 84-51, last Wednesday night in the Jacks’ only contest of the week.
North Dakota is 7-18 on the season and 3-8 in Summit League action. The Fighting Hawks are coming off a split week with a loss to Omaha on Thursday and a win over Kansas City on Saturday. The Fighting Hawks are led by Mackenzie Hughes, who paces UND in scoring (11.2 PPG), assists (3.3 APG) and steals (1.2 SPG).
Kansas City is 7-17 overall and 4-7 conference play. The Roos went 0-2 last week against North Dakota State on Thursday and North Dakota on Saturday. The Roos have multiple players contributing to the leading stats. Emani Bennett is pacing UMKC in scoring (14.5 PPG). Elauni Bennett is leading the Roos in rebounding (7.2 RPG) and Tierra Trotter tops the team in assists (3.2 APG) and steals (1.4 SPG).
KEY STORYLINES
- South Dakota State enters the week with an 18-6 overall record and can reach 20 wins by the end of the week. Should the Jacks go 2-0 this week, SDSU will have reached 20 wins in 15 straight seasons and 23 times overall under AJ.
- Brooklyn Meyer enters the week with 1,846 career points (5th all time at SDSU) and is 42 points from sole possession of third place on SDSU’s career scoring chart (page six). She averages 21.5 points per game.
- Brooklyn Meyer scores 21.5 points per game (13th in NCAA) and is .637 from the floor this year (4th in NCAA). She is one of four players in the country averaging 20+ points and shooting better than 60% this year (Audi Crooks, Iowa State & Jaliya Davis, Kansas & Joyce Edwards, South Carolina).
- Maddie Mathiowetz is SDSU’s second leading scorer with 12.5 points per game and has scored 15+ points in five of the last seven games.
- Emilee Fox scores 9.4 points per conference game with 2.6 3-point makes per league contest. She is .500 from deep against Summit League opponents, which leads the conference.
- In conference games, SDSU is second in the Summit League with a .489 team field goal percentage. The Jacks have 11 players shooting better than 40% in league action. The Jacks’s .473 overall field goal percentage is 16th in the country.
- In conference games, the Jackrabbits lead the Summit League in scoring defense (55.6), 3-pointers per game (8.0), rebounds per game (39.4), rebounding margin (10.5) and assists per game (18.4).
-GoJacks.com-
South Dakota
Republican businessman Toby Doeden advances to primary runoff in South Dakota governor’s race
Republican businessman Toby Doeden has advanced to a runoff in South Dakota governor’s race, NBC News projects.
Gov. Larry Rhoden, who replaced Kristi Noem last year when President Donald Trump nominated her to lead the Department of Homeland Security, was battling with Rep. Dusty Johnson and former state House Speaker Jon Hansen for a second spot in the July 28 runoff. The primary will go to a runoff because no candidate eclipsed 35% of the vote.
Trump did not issue an endorsement in the race. Doeden branded himself on his campaign website as “a total political outsider who’s tired of the government’s failure to deliver on its promises” and one of Trump’s “fiercest supporters.”
Rhoden, a former lieutenant governor, agriculture secretary and lawmaker, campaigned on property tax cuts and lowering crime in his bid for a four-year term.
Johnson is the state’s lone representative in the House, where he previously was chair of the Republican Main Street Caucus. Hansen, who was elected to the South Dakota House in 2010, held several leadership positions before he became speaker.
The Republican nominee will be the favorite to win the general election in the solidly red state this fall. A Democrat has not served as governor in South Dakota since the 1970s, and Trump carried the state by 29 points in 2024.
News
Agronomist: eastern South Dakota crops hit and miss
An agronomist in eastern South Dakota says corn and soybeans are hit and miss as the growing season begins.
Steven Zemlicka with AgTegra Cooperative tells Brownfield, “We’ve got corn anywhere from V1 all the way up to V4. Biggest stuff’s maybe touching V5. Corn’s coming right along, looks pretty good. A little bit of hail here too, but I don’t think it’s going to be much of an issue. Stands for the most part are pretty good, pretty solid.”
Zemlicka says soybean emergence has been slow due to the wet, cool conditions, and there are a few fields that still need planted.
“People were still working on planting soybeans when we got the recent rain.”
He says recent rain totals ranged from a half inch to as much as four inches in the northeast part of South Dakota; the southern part of the state has been drier.
South Dakota’s corn is rated 61 percent good to excellent, with soybean conditions rated 57 percent good to excellent, according to USDA’s first condition ratings of the season.
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – The South Dakota Community Foundation is encouraging nonprofits to apply for funding this June.
Beth Massa and Ginger Niemann joined us live with what you need to know before applying.
Watch the full interview above.
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