BROOKINGS, S.D. (KELO) — Sunday marked the 19th time the South Dakota State women’s basketball team hosted a nationally-ranked team in the program’s Division-I era, and No. 2 Texas was the highest-ranked foe to ever make the trip to Brookings. SDSU ultimately fell to the Longhorns 70-51 inside First Bank & Trust Arena, but the […]
BROOKINGS, S.D. (KELO) — Sunday marked the 19th time the South Dakota State women’s basketball team hosted a nationally-ranked team in the program’s Division-I era, and No. 2 Texas was the highest-ranked foe to ever make the trip to Brookings.
SDSU ultimately fell to the Longhorns 70-51 inside First Bank & Trust Arena, but the Jackrabbits view the experience of playing a Final Four participant from a season ago worthwhile. This year is the fourth straight season the Jacks hosted a ranked team.
“It was just a great opportunity in a lot of ways,” SDSU head coach Aaron Johnston said. “We’ll continue to find chances to play these teams and try and bring them here. We had a great crowd and everybody was into it. It just really I think showed well for where we’re at as a program. But it is hard to play against national championship caliber teams. And that’s really what Texas is.”
“Planning teams like that make us all better,” SDSU senior forward Brooklyn Meyer said. “Obviously they’re long, they’re athletic. It’s good to run our offense and run our plays and stuff like that against a team like that. And so I feel like today was a really good day for growth as a team.”
Texas, now 14-0 this season, saw SDSU as strong preparation for their tough conference slate in the SEC.
“It’s good for us,” Texas head coach Vic Schaefer said. “It’s good for us in getting us ready for the SEC. But it’s also good for the game to grow, the game for our kids to come up here and play in this environment. It’ll help us in the SEC, no doubt about it.”
SDSU is now 9-10 in games against ranked teams in Brookings, but the team will continue to seek these opportunities.
“We’ll continue to move in that direction because I think it helps build our program,” Johnston said. “There’s just absolutely no downside to playing great competition. We’re willing to stretch ourselves. And we’ve learned and grow and learn from it. I think our fans appreciate it. I think our team enjoys it, and we’ll try and keep doing it.”
The 10-4 Jackrabbits are set to open Summit League play on New Year’s Day against St. Thomas in Brookings.
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Category: General Sports
