South Dakota State women top No. 10 Louisville at Atlantis

PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas (AP) — Myah Selland performed the ultimate minutes decided to not let South Dakota State’s shot of beating a top-10 opponent slip away.

Selland scored 14 of her 25 factors in a dominating fourth quarter to assist the Jackrabbits beat Tenth-ranked Louisville 65-55 in Monday’s fifth-place recreation on the Battle 4 Atlantis. It marked the highest-ranked opponent this system has crushed since shifting to Division I for the 2004-05 season.

It began with the 6-foot-1 sixth-year ahead, who was the preseason choose for Summit League participant of the yr. She helped the Jackrabbits (4-2) regroup after blowing most of a 17-point third-quarter lead in opposition to the Cardinals’ defensive stress, scoring 10 of the workforce’s last 11 factors.

“I feel we simply executed very well down the stretch and simply stayed inside our system,” Selland mentioned. “I bought beauty however that’s as a result of the remainder of us had been executing.”

Possibly so, however that understates how large she performed in probably the most crucial minutes.

“I feel this is without doubt one of the first occasions this yr, and we’ve performed some good opponents, the place I actually felt like Myah asserted herself,” coach Aaron Johnston mentioned. A few of that she did out of some offensive calls and issues.

“However the place you actually need gamers like that to do it’s when issues aren’t going effectively. … And Myah was that for us within the fourth quarter.”

She additionally completed with 11 rebounds for the sport, together with diving on the ground to snag one late that saved a possession alive and finally led to her twisting bucket within the lane for a 62-52 lead with 1:24 left.

Hailey Van Lith scored 26 factors for the Cardinals (4-2), although no different Louisville gamers scored in double figures. Van Lith made 10 of 20 photographs and three 3-pointers, together with one with 6 1/2 minutes left that introduced Louisville to inside 50-47.

However the Cardinals bought no nearer.

Jeff Walz mentioned he was involved coming in after the workforce didn’t have shootaround or pregame warmups.

“We don’t execute proper now,” Walz mentioned. “We’re sloppy at each ends of the ground. … We don’t talk (defensively). And till we are able to repair that, we’re going to be Jekyll and Hyde.”

BIG PICTURE

Louisville: This was a perplexing journey for Walz, who reached his fourth Closing 4 final yr. The Cardinals had been crushed badly on the glass in each of their losses, first by 19 (50-31) in opposition to Gonzaga after which 17 (41-24) in opposition to South Dakota State. It was additionally a three-day journey that had him questioning his workforce’s competitiveness in key moments.

“We’re going to seek out out actual fast who needs to be a participant,” Walz mentioned, referring to the sport as a “intestine test.”

South Dakota State: Johnston is in his twenty third season as coach and has established the Jackrabbits as a powerful mid-major program with 10 NCAA Match bids, together with a visit to the Candy 16 in 2019. Add one other milestone to the checklist with this win; South Dakota State has by no means crushed a workforce ranked increased than twelfth, most not too long ago at Syracuse within the 2019 NCAA Match.

TOUGH ROAD

Louisville’s loss meant that each one three ranked groups coming into the Atlantis match misplaced not less than twice in three days.

No. 23 Tennessee misplaced to eventual champion UCLA — which entered the AP Prime 25 ballot Monday at No. 20 — and Gonzaga, whereas Louisville additionally misplaced to the Zags.

No. 19 Texas misplaced to Marquette and Louisville, after which beat Rutgers in Monday night time’s seventh-place recreation.

UP NEXT

Louisville: The Cardinals host Longwood on Friday.

South Dakota State: The Jackrabbits journey to Washington State subsequent Monday.

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Observe Aaron Beard on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/aaronbeardap

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AP girls’s faculty basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25