BROOKINGS — The South Dakota State women's basketball team continued rolling through the bottom half of the Summit League on Saturday, Feb. 14, blowing out visiting Kansas City, 93-40.
Some of the numbers in such a big upset can be jarring, so here are five that best describe the Jackrabbits' 20th win of the season.
32 points in the first quarter
It's pretty easy to win by 53 points when you're putting yourself on pace for 120 through 10 minutes.
Maddie Mathiowetz was absolutely on fire from the start, going 5-for-5 from the field and 4-for-4 from deep for 14 points in the opening frame. She also assisted on a 3-pointer, so she was responsible for 17 of the 32.
The Jackrabbits as a team shot 12-for-15 in the first, which is very clearly an unsustainable number over four quarters. They also made 7-of-8 from deep, good for 87.5%.
But who cares about continuing that when you use it to build a 22-point lead?
For as much as South Dakota State's offense was a sight to behold, the defense provided the Roos with no openings and made them work for everything. That ended up resulting in lots of unforced errors and transition opportunities for the Jackrabbits, which helped that 80% field goal percentage tremendously.
34, Emilee Fox's and Brooklyn Meyer's +/- in the first half
This feels nearly impossible to do, but Fox and Meyer made good things happen while they were on the floor in the first half.
Let's start with Fox, who posted a career-high 20 points before the break. The sophomore from Mount Vernon, South Dakota, went 7-for-9 from the field and 5-for-7 from deep with three rebounds, three assists and no turnovers in 15 minutes.
She was all over the floor and led the break a ton, getting a handful of hockey assists as well that didn't go in the box score.
Meyer battled with some undersized Kansas City bigs all half, and ended up with a quiet eight points and nine rebounds before the break.
What wasn't quiet was Meyer's four assists, which mostly came when the Roos sent a double team her way. The 6-foot-2 senior stayed composed through the pressure and felt her way through the traps, using retreat dribbles to back out and throw a skip pass to a shooter and attacking late rotations to find an open cutter with space.
She was also a menace defensively despite only racking up one block and one steal. Meyer consistently altered shots around the rim and her presence alone deterred the Roos from attempting shots in the paint. They ended up settling for lots of tough mid-range shots that were highly unsuccessful.
17 first-half assists for South Dakota State and first-half points for Kansas City
You can choose which stat you prefer here, but the number stays the same and tells a major part of the story in the first half.
A 54-17 lead at the break requires lots of variables, and South Dakota State was humming on both sides of the ball.
Offensively, everything was flowing as well as it could've been. The ball never got sticky, hot shooters knew when the extra pass wasn't necessary and when they could attack and kick. Then the Jackrabbits got out in transition and pushed it without dribbling, making Kansas City work to defend all 94 feet while putting up points quickly.
The defense forced the Roos into a tough spot. The visitors shot just 28% (7-for-25) in the first half with seven turnovers. Kansas City was consistently either battling the shot clock or forcing a tough shot earlier in the possession, which isn't usually a recipe for success.
A lot of that can be attributed to South Dakota State, but sometimes it felt self-inflicted by a clearly overmatched and undersized Roos team.
15 made 3-pointers by South Dakota State
It's been clear that the Jackrabbits are better when they can space the floor around Meyer, but boy did they do that efficiently on Saturday.
South Dakota State made it rain from deep all day, and with Fox, Mathiowetz and Hadley Thul all making multiple shots from behind the arc. The trio combined to go 14-for-19, allowing Meyer to do her best Nikola Jokic impression.
Fox finished with 26 points on seven threes, Mathiowetz had 18 points and four triples and Thul recorded 13 points on three made threes.
Speaking of which ...
3 assists shy of a triple-double for Meyer
Meyer had time and space all day and stuffed the stat sheet even more in the second half. She was on triple-double watch after the break and did her best to accumulate the assists, but things got a little too hectic to make that happen.
She checked out with 11 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists, with the assist total being a career high.
Meyer also moved herself within nine points of third place on the all-time South Dakota State women's basketball scoring list. She sits at 1,878 points and Shannon Schlagel (2001-05) holds third with 1,887 points.
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: 5 key numbers from SDSU women's basketball's win over Kansas City