Jennie Sunnarborg and Jill Young each scored 15 points to lead the South Dakota State University women's basketball team to a 76-66 victory over IPFW Saturday afternoon.
The Jackrabbits extended their season-best winning streak to five games, improving to 14-7 overall and league-leading 9-1 mark within The Summit League. IPFW dropped to 7-14 overall and 4-6 in league play.
SDSU led by as many as seven points, 17-10, midway through the first half before the Mastodons grabbed a momentary three-point lead at 26-23 with a little more than three minutes to play. The Jackrabbits closed the half with an 11-4 run behind seven free throws by Sunnarborg and a basket by Ashley Eide with less than a second remaining to go up 34-30 at intermission.
IPFW pulled even at 36-all less than two minutes into the second half, but could not wrest the lead away from the Jackrabbits, who opened a six-point lead, 47-41, on an Eide three-pointer at the 13:53 mark. Eide finished the game with 11 points.
An Eide basket at the 8:53 mark gave SDSU its first double-digit lead of the afternoon and IPFW could get no closer than five points the rest of the way.
Once again, the Jackrabbits received production up and down their lineup as their reserves combined to score 24 points, compared to five by the Mastodon bench. Katie Lingle led the Jackrabbit bench with 10 points.
SDSU shot 61 percent from the field in the second half to finish the game 24-of-50 overall, 48 percent, including 5-fo-16 from three-point range.
The Mastodons received a game-high 21 points from Stephanie Rosado, followed by 14 points from Amanda Hyde and 10 from Sarah Haluska. IPFW made 21-of-57 shots from the field, 36.8 percent, but was only 5-of-24 from behind the arc.
The two teams combined to miss only two free throws the entire contest. IPFW was a perfect 19-for-19 from the line, while the Jackrabbits converted 23-of-25 attempts, 92 percent.
SDSU finished with a 34-30 rebounding advantage, led by Sunnarborg and Young with six boards each. Haluska and Hyde each tallied six rebounds to lead the Mastodons.
The Jackrabbits resume action Monday at Oakland. Tipoff is slated for 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time (5:30 p.m. Central) from the Athletics Center O'Rena in Rochester, Mich.
