Central Michigan knocks off South Dakota State women at Frost Arena

BROOKINGS – Micaela Kelly of Central Michigan put on a show Saturday afternoon at Frost Arena, and it was too much for South Dakota State to overcome.

The Chippewas junior guard had 38 points on 12-of-18 shooting that included a 7-of-8 effort from the 3-point line, leading CMU to a 79-74 win over the Jacks in front of 1,369 fans. Kelly had 25 points in the first half, was kept slightly quiet in the third quarter, then came to life again in the fourth with a handful of key shots and defensive plays that made the difference in the Chippewas handing SDSU a rare home loss.

“She had a heck of a game today,” said CMU coach Heather Oesterle. “We did a good job between her and Molly Davis of taking advantage of their switching on ball screens. People that we play against have to pick their poison. They did a great job on Maddy Watters, who’s shooting 50 percent from 3, but you stay out on her and then you (give open looks to other players). We just did a little bit of everything, I thought.”

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Trailing 56-54 after three, both teams ratcheted up the intensity in the fourth quarter, with a Davis 3 giving the Chippewas a 66-59 lead with 6:25 to go. SDSU answered with a 7-0 run, getting a 3 from Tagyn Larson and a layup to tie from Kallie Theisen, then taking a 69-68 lead on a 3 by Lindsey Theuninck with 2:23 to go. But Kelly answered immediately with a 3 of her own, and CMU never trailed again.

“She’s very quick and had a great game shooting,” Theuninck said of Kelly, who came in averaging 20.4 points per contest. “We need to shut her down. We knew what she could do and we didn’t get it done.”

Davis had 20 points and seven assists, hitting 4-of-6 from deep, as CMU was 12-for-22 from beyond the arc as a team. They were the only two Chippewas in double figures. SDSU shot 46 percent as a team and made 8-of-16 3-pointers while using 14 offensive rebounds to put up 18 second-chance points. But they missed 10 free throws and of their 17 turnovers, too many came late and in costly situations. They were also playing without their best player, forward Myah Selland, as well as freshman Tori Nelson, who is the team’s fourth-leading scorer.

“We just didn’t do a good job on Kelly and Davis,” said SDSU coach Aaron Johnston. “They’re both really good players and we knew that coming in, but they were just a little too much for us today. They made shots when they needed to and created shots when they needed to. We had some really costly turnovers late. We also made some nice runs to get back in it and had some chances to come back and win, but they made some big shots when they needed to and we didn’t quite get past that.”

With Selland and Nelson out, the Jacks played only seven against CMU, and their two reserves – Theisen and Sydney Stapleton – were arguably their best players in this one. Stapleton had 13 points, hitting three 3s, while Theisen had 12 points and five rebounds that all came on the offensive end. Larson led the Jacks with 15 points, while Theuninck had 12.

SDSU falls to 7-5 with the loss, and with a home game against Marquette and a trip to Green Bay still remaining on the non-conference schedule, the Jacks still have some tough challenges ahead before the start of Summit League play. And Selland, nursing a chronic foot injury, is out indefinitely.

CMU, meanwhile, improved to 5-3 with the win, and the defending MAC champions recognized the significance of escaping Frost Arena with a win.

“This is a great program win for us,” Oesterle said. “It was a great college basketball game. To come in here and beat them is a huge win for our program because they’re a really good team that’s gonna win a lot of games.”