Top-seeded South Dakota State fended off a resilient Oral Roberts squad, defeating the second-seeded Golden Eagles 84-68 to capture the program's third straight Summit League Women's Basketball Championship on Sunday at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center.
Paige Meyer (5'6''-G) led a trio of 20-point scorers for the Jackrabbits, finishing with 26 points and a championship-game record nine assists to earn her second straight Tournament MVP honors. Haleigh Timmer (5'11''-G) added 21 points and Madison Mathiowetz (5'10''-G) chipped in with 20 as those three had an answer each time ORU tried to claw its way back in this one.
Timmer set the tone early, opening the game with back-to-back triples and scored the first eight points for the Jackrabbits, who raced out to an early 11-2 advantage.
Meyer also had back-to-back three-pointers in the opening quarter as SDSU went 5-for-8 while the Golden Eagles misfired on their four attempts and went just 4-for-19 from the field overall. ORU would get a three-point play from Jones to close it out and cut the deficit back to single digits at 19-10.
ORU carried the momentum into the second quarter, opening that stanza on a 13-2 run. Jones tied things at 21-21 with a baseline jumper and Uduomoh sank a pair of free throws at the 5:48 mark to give the Golden Eagles their first advantage of the contest.
That was short-lived, however, as Mathiowetz drilled her second three-pointer of the game and Meyer followed with a driving layup to give SDSU the lead right back.
Those two baskets started a flurry of offense for the Jacks over the closing five minutes as they made 9-of-11 from the field down the stretch to take a 46-36 lead into halftime. Mathiowetz had 10 second-quarter points, including seven in that closing stretch but Emily Robinson hit a pair of three-pointers to help combat that strong finish by the Jacks, who scored 22 points in the final 5:00.
Mathiowetz added seven quick points out of the halftime break and had SDSU up 56-41 following a pair of free throws but ORU would not go away. The Golden Eagles rattled off eight straight points over just a minute of game action to close that gap to seven.
ORU had trimmed the deficit down to five but the Jacks scored the last five points of the quarter to push their lead back to double figures at 65-55 going into the final quarter.
SDSU's lead never got below nine in the final 10 minutes as they outscored ORU 19-13 to claim their 12th tournament title in program history.
The Jackrabbits will find out their NCAA Tournament seeding and destination during this year's selection show slated for 7 p.m. CT on ESPN.

Turning Point
ORU had trimmed its deficit down to five late in the third quarter but a quick 5-0 spurt by the Jackrabbits regained their halftime advantage going into the final quarter.

Inside the Box Score
ORU started 1-for-10 from the field, while SDSU started 5-for-10, including a 4-for-5 effort from beyond the arc. The Golden Eagles misfired on all four of their attempts from three-point range in the opening quarter.
Mathiowetz hit the 20-point plateau for the third time in her career.
Timmer (15), Mathiowetz (13) and Paige Meyer (12) combined for 40 of SDSU's 46 first-half points.
Meyer's nine assists were a championship-game record and was shy of her season high.

News & Notes
These two teams have won the most combined titles between any two Summit League teams in the conference's 42-year history. SDSU has now won 12, while Oral Roberts has won five.
SDSU owns a 6-0 edge in all-time tournament meetings with ORU, including a 79-75 overtime victory in their only previous meeting in the title game.
The Jackrabbits have won three straight titles, which is the program's longest consecutive run since winning five in a row from 2009-13. South Dakota was the last program to win three straight, prior to SDSU's current run from 2020-22.
The 2010 overtime clash was also the last appearance in the championship game for the Golden Eagles, who won titles in 1999, 2001, 2005, 2007 and 2008.

Courtesy of thesummitleague.org

Summit League Final:
SD State - Oral Roberts 84-68
Summit League Semifinals:
SD State - North Dakota 84-55
Oral Roberts - Kansas City 95-73
Summit League Quarterfinals:
SD State - Omaha 87-67
Oral Roberts - South Dakota 70-50
ND State - Kansas City 58-68
St. Thomas - North Dakota 84-55
Summit League First Round:
Omaha - Denver 76-68