By Andrew Holtan
The Brookings Beacon
BROOKINGS – Ava Zediker’s shot at the buzzer rolled over the front rim and in on Monday night and Creighton spoiled the South Dakota State women’s season opener with a 73-71 win at First Bank & Trust Arena.
The Jackrabbits led 57-51 going into the fourth quarter and the Blue Jays outscored them 22-14 in the final 10 minutes. SDSU head coach Aaron Johnston said Creighton made some tough shots down the stretch and the Jacks missed some makeable ones.
“Those last-second shots are always tough ways to lose games, but it doesn’t change anything,” Johnston said. “… I thought the difference in the game was kind of like that last shot. I thought they just made a lot of really tough shots and we missed a lot of makable shots in and around the basket.”
Creighton held a 21-16 lead at the end of the first quarter. SDSU then took a 26-24 lead on an Emilee Fox three with 4:50 left in the first half. The Jacks then closed the first half with a 9-3 run and took a 35-29 lead into the break.
The two teams went back-and-forth in the third quarter and SDSU trailed 44-43 with 5:21 left in the quarter. The Jacks then outscored the Blue Jays 13-8 the rest of the quarter and led by six going into the final frame.
Brooklyn Meyer extended the lead to 59-51 and then the Jays hit back-to-back shots to make it 59-55 with just under eight minutes to play. SDSU kept Creighton at bay until there was 3:47 to go and M Moore tied the game at 63-63. The two teams traded baskets until the final buzzer and Zediker scored the final 8 points for Creighton and scored 16 points in the final quarter.
Zediker had 21 points to lead the Jays and Johnston said SDSU needed to do a better job of making things tougher on her.
“Some [her shots] were tough, some of them weren’t. We just weren’t great on ball screens with her. I mean, she just had too many clean looks. We have to challenge shots better, even the last one. We’re kind of there, but we need to challenge shots better,” Johnston said.
Meyer, who received a temporary restraining order against the NCAA last week to become eligible for a fifth season, scored 12 points and grabbed six rebounds. She said it felt good to be back on the court and Johnston said Meyer had a good night, considering she just started practicing with the team a few weeks ago.
“[She looked] good. Just still getting in shape. You know, you can see that bounce in her and everything. She’ll continue to put a lot of time into it, a lot of effort. She was a big lift for us. I thought she played really well, considering she just needs to continue to get into better shape,” Johnston said.
Meyer will have a court date later on and a judge will decide on her eligibility for the rest of the season. She said her and the team are taking things day by day.
“[Having the temporary restraining order] makes it a little bit different, obviously. You know, it’s kind of a different role than I was in last year in a way, but the girls have been so receptive and have been great, like welcoming me back. I couldn’t ask for anything more. … We’re just taking it day by day,” Meyer said.
True freshman Audrey Shindelar had one of the more memorable debuts in the yellow and blue on Monday night. The Stewartville, Minn., native had 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting in just 21 minutes. Johnston said he expected Shindelar to produce in her freshman season but didn’t know when exactly it would come.
“You never know how freshmen are going to jump into things,” Johnston said. “It’s just hard to go from senior year of high school to freshman year of college against our level of competition. … We want to make sure we don’t put too much on her, but I think she’s going to be a big part of what we do from day one and going forward. Just because she has the ability to create shots, she has good bounce in her step and as she figures out all parts of it, she’s going to be a great talent for us.”
SDSU shot 46% from the field and was 7-of-17 from three. Emilee Fox had 14 points and Claire Sheppard and Maggie Hartwig each had seven points.
Johnston said SDSU’s offense never found a rhythm, despite scoring 71 points.
“We just did not find a great rhythm, and I say that with us scoring 71 points. You know, for teams that usually don’t find a good rhythm you’re scoring 50 and trying to figure it out. I didn’t think we played well offensively. … We just need to be better in some big moments, and a little better defensively,” Johnston said.
Creighton shot 47.3% from the field and was 6-of-11 from beyond the arc. SDSU had a slight edge in rebounding, 34-33. The Jacks had 12 turnovers and the Blue Jays had 11. SDSU had a 40-28 advantage in points in the paint.
The Jacks will remain at home later in the week as they welcome Northern Iowa to Brookings on Friday night. Tip off between SDSU and UNI is scheduled for 6 p.m. and you can watch the game on the Summit League Network and Midco Sports Plus.
