South Dakota State clinches Summit League title

KANSAS CITY — South Dakota State clinched yet another women’s Summit League basketball title on Saturday, as the Jackrabbits’ 80-60 win over Kansas City upped their conference record to 14-0 on the season (24-3 overall) and out of reach of the rest of the league’s members.

It was the 61st consecutive win in Summit League regular season play for SDSU, and clinched them the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament.

It’s the Jacks’ fifth consecutive regular season league title and 11th since 2008.

The win over the Kangaroos followed a somewhat familiar pattern, as SDSU struggled to gain separation early but pulled away late for a comfortable victory.

UMKC outscored the Jacks 21-16 in the second quarter to go into the half down just three to SDSU at 39-36, but the Jacks stretched the lead to nine by the end of the third and then pulled away in the fourth.

Brooklyn Meyer had a monster game for SDSU, scoring a career-high 34 points in her first game after getting held to four in last weekend’s win over USD. The junior post was 13-of-16 from the floor and 8-of-14 at the line to do her offensive damage.

Haleigh Timmer had 16 points, hitting four of her team’s six 3-pointers, while Paige Meyer had 11 points, seven assists and five rebounds. The Jacks had assists on 22 of their 30 made field goals and committed just six turnovers. Paige Meyer moved into fifth place all-time in school history in assists, including No. 1 all-time in the Division I era.

Alanya Contreras had 24 points for UMKC (11-18, 7-7), while Emani Bennett added 14.

The Jacks wrap up the regular season at home, hosting Denver on Thursday and St. Thomas on Saturday.

Matt Zimmer is a Sioux Falls native and longtime sports writer. He graduated from Washington High School where he played football, legion baseball and developed his lifelong love of the Minnesota Twins and Vikings. After graduating from St. Cloud State University, he returned to Sioux Falls, and began a long career in amateur baseball and sports reporting. Email Matt at mzimmer@siouxfallslive.com.