THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1:
Men’s Basketball:
South Dakota State @ IUPUI (Live on Ranch AM 910 @ 5:30)
South Dakota @ Oakland
North Dakota State @ Western Illinois
Missouri-Kansas City @ IPFW

Women’s Basketball:
Missouri-Kansas City @ Oakland
South Dakota @ IPFW

Wrestling:
Madison @ Sioux Falls Lincoln

SDSU WBB…South Dakota State put together a strong effort on both ends of the court, opening Summit League play with an 82-56 victory over Western Illinois.
Jennie Sunnarborg recorded game highs of 16 points and eight rebounds to lead SDSU. Jill Young and Leah Dietel each tallied 11, while Ashley Eide and Steph Paluch contributed nine points apiece.
Sadie Webb and Valencia Kelly each reached double figures in scoring for WIU, tallying 12 and 10 points, respectively.

SUMMIT WBB…For the first time since the 2008-09 season, the IUPUI women’s basketball team owns a winning record and is 1-0 in Summit League action after downing North Dakota State, 49-39, in a defensive struggle Wednesday evening in the conference opener for both schools.
Southern Utah had one of its most productive nights of offense so far this season on Wednesday, outscoring visiting in-state rival Utah Valley by a final count of 80-65. Freshman point guard Hailey Mandelko came into the game as the Thunderbirds leading scorer on the year and eventually finished the night with a career high 23 points.

MEN’S BB…Troy Huff scored 23 points and Patrick Mitchell added 21 to lead North Dakota to a 74-66 victory against Jamestown (N.D.) College on Wednesday night. Brandon Robbins and Mark Hoge had 12 points each for Jamestown, a NAIA school that classified the game as an exhibition. The Jimmies' record remained 7-3.
Warren Niles scored 19 points and Oral Roberts handed Missouri State its first loss of the season, 68-63, on Wednesday night. Dominique Morrison added 13 points, Roderick Pearson 11 and Michael Craion 10 for Oral Roberts. The Eagles also got 12 rebounds and eight points from Steven Roundtree. Kyle Weems had 22 points for Missouri State (4-1) and Caleb Patterson added 14.
Anthony James scored 17 points, Matt Morrison added 14 off the bench and Northern Iowa beat Iowa State 69-62. Royce White and Chris Allen each scored 15 points for Iowa State.

SDSU MBB…The South Dakota State men open their Summit League basketball schedule Thursday night at IUPUI – then visit Western Illinois Saturday night.
Head coach Scott Nagy says Alex Young keys the Jaguar offense: 97623 :21 “are struggling offensively”.
Nagy expects to face a strong defensive team with Western Illinois. 97624 :26 “to fight through”.
Nagy says Jordan Dykstra could play this weekend, but says his conditioning isn’t where it should be. Dykstra’s been sidelined with an ankle injury.

RANGER HOCKEY…Here’s a recap of some of the Brookings Ranger hockey action…
The Bantam 1(A) team started their league play this past weekend with two wins. They outscored Watertown and Yankton 22 to 1. Tanner Nielsen had a hat trick against Yankton – Austin Himley, Carter Mahlum and Caleb Stratmoen each scored three goals against Yankton. Mahlum had four assists against Watertown – Kyle Krogman had five against Yankton.
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The Brookings Ranger Bantam B team opened the 2011-2012 hockey season with three wins this past weekend. The first win came against Sioux Center 6 to 1. Akren Prodoehl had a hat trick.
The second win came against Sioux Center 9 to 2. Prodoehl again had a hat trick.
The third win came against Yankton 7 to 0. PeeWee 1
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The Brookings Rangers PeeWee A team won 2 out of 3 games to open their 2011-2012 league campaign. Brookings defeated the Oahe Capitals by a score of 4-3. Mason Gerstner scored the game winning goal in the 3rd period off an assist by Matthew Chapin.
Brookings dropped a hard fought 6-5 decision to the Sioux Falls Flyers East in Sioux Falls. Early goals by Gerstner and Cody Niklason gave the Rangers a 3-0 lead, but the Flyers rallied with 3 goals in the 3rd period to claim the victory.
The Rangers rebounded with a 10-0 defeat of the Aberdeen Cougars. Joe Bertolini led the Rangers attack with 2 goals.
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The PeeWee 2 kicked off their league season at home on Friday against the Oahe Capitals. Oahe won 4-2.
Saturday, the Sioux Center Storm faced the Rangers and won 6-3. Hokenson made 14 saves in goal for the Rangers.
The Rangers traveled to Watertown and dropped a 4-2 decision.

SUMMIT TRACK POLL…The South Dakota State men's and women's track teams were both picked to finish third in the 2011-12 Summit League men's and women's indoor track & field preseason polls...
In the men's poll, North Dakota State received six of the eight first-place votes en route to the top spot with 48 points.
The next three schools; which includes SDSU; are separated by only eight points. Southern Utah came in second with 40 points and one first-place vote, followed by the Jacks in third with 36 points and Oral Roberts in fourth with 32 points and the last first-place vote. UMKC, South Dakota, Oakland and Western Illinois close out the bracket on the men's side.
The men's team finished in second place last season.
In the women's poll, North Dakota State ran away with eight of the nine first-place votes en route to the top spot with 64 points. Southern Utah was a clear-and-away second with 55 points and the last first-place vote. SDSU was third with 45 points, followed closely by Oral Roberts with 43 points and South Dakota with 39 points.
UMKC, Oakland, Western Illinois and IPFW close out the bracket on the women's side.
The women's team finished in fourth place last season.
Both the SDSU men's and women's track teams open the indoor season on Friday, Dec. 9, at the Dakota Duals in Fargo, N.D. The duals will last through Saturday, Dec. 10.

MVFC ALL-NEWCOMER… Four South Dakota State players, led by Freshman of the Year Austin Sumner, have been selected to the Missouri Valley Football Conference All-Newcomer Team. Joining Sumner on the all-newcomer squad from the offensive side of the ball were wide receiver Dale Moss and running back/return specialist Zach Zenner.
Moss, who was named to the all-MVFC Second Team on Monday, led theleague with an average of 86.3 receiving yards per
Rounding out the Jackrabbit selections was senior punter Jason Schlautman. Schlautman was the lone player from SDSU to earn first-team all-conference recognition.
Illinois State led with five all-newcomer selections, followed by the Jackrabbits’ four honorees.

MVFC ACADEMIC…For the seventh consecutive season, the South Dakota State University football team leads its conference in the number ofall-academic selections. Wednesday, nine Jackrabbit players were honored on the 2011 all-Missouri Valley Football Conference All-Academic Team.
Receiving first-team recognition via a vote of the league’s sports information directors was senior tight end Brad Iverson.
Four other Jackrabbits received second-team recognition, including a pair of offensive linemen. Alex Olinger, Taylor Suess, Bo Helm and Brandon Hubert were selected.
Rounding out the Jackrabbit honorees were honorable mention selections Zach Buchner, Seth Daughters, Tyrel Kool and Ross Shafrath.

SDSU BASEBALL…South Dakota State University baseball coach Dave Schrage announced his inaugural recruiting class Wednesday that consists of three high school standouts and three junior college players.
• Zach Coppola (pronounced coe-POE-lah, outfielder, Windsor Heights, Iowa;
• Joe Erickson, pitcher, Urbandale, Iowa;
• Jake Ratz, first baseman/outfielder, Hiawatha, Iowa;
• Tyler Shannon, shortstop, Canon City, Colo.;
• Cody Sharrow, infielder, Burlington, Vt.; and
• Scott Splett, outfielder, Apple Valley, Minn.
Coppola and Erickson were teammates on the West Des Moines-based Dowling Catholic High School team that won the Iowa Class 4A state championship last summer. Ratz is expected to provide power from the left side of the plate after completing his two-year career at Ellsworth Community College (Iowa) this spring. Shannon was a three-time all-conference selection at Canon City High School and was named conference defensive player of the year as a senior. Sharrow has earned first-team all-metro honors each of the past two seasons at Mount Mansfield Union High School. Splett plans to join the Jackrabbit roster after serving as team captain during the 2012 season at Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge, Iowa.

BOBCAT BACKERS…The next Bobcat Backer social will be Monday, December 5, starting at 7:00pm at the Elks Club.
This social will serve as our fall sports finale and our official kickoff to the winter sports season. We hope that all fall and winter coaches can attend to give final updates on their teams for those from the fall, and previews of their teams for those this coming winter.
We invite everyone to attend and encourage you to bring someone along who hasn't been to a social before so as to experience what these socials are all about and what Bobcat Backers means to the student-athletes of Brookings.
We'll also have a list of our 2012 socials by then so you can add those dates to your calendar.