Summit League Women’s Preview: Denver at South Dakota State

South Dakota State enters the final week of the Summit League's first half in the driver's seat.  The Jackrabbits (14-7/5-0) come in with a one game lead on IUPUI and at least a two game edge on the rest of the field as SDSU gets ready to host Denver and South Dakota.

The Jacks fifth straight conference win came last Saturday in Fargo, where they knocked off North Dakota State by 20, despite only having a one point lead at halftime.

SDSU got great production off the bench from Kerri Young, who finished with a career-high 23 points, while the Jacks defense clamped down in the second half, limiting the Bison to 21 percent shooting.

SDSU head coach Aaron Johnston says his team's early first half advantage evaporated because NDSU got going offensively, and his team let up a bit:

Against Summit League newcomer Denver Thursday night in Brookings, the Jacks will be facing the #1 team in field goal shooting, 3-point shooting and assists in the Summit League.

The Pioneers also have the conference's top defensive rebounder (Theresa Wirth) and #5 scorer (Paige Bradley).

But while Denver (5-15/3-2) scores the 2nd most points per game in the league (79), they also give up the 2nd most (79).  Coach Johnston knows this team is better than what show up in the win column:

Tipoff is 7:00pm Thursday night at Frost Arena in Brookings. The Jacks host South Dakota Sunday afternoon.