BROOKINGS - It required a late rally in both regulation and in overtime but the South Dakota State women's basketball team managed to hold off Northern Iowa Wednesday night.
The Jackrabbits rallied from a 13-point halftime deficit and a five-point UNI lead with 21 seconds left in overtime to tie the game and send it to a second overtime, where SDSU held on for an 89-86 win at Frost Arena.
Trailing 76-71 with 21 seconds left in the first overtime, Mitchell native Macy Miller hit a layup that cut the lead to three points. After the Panthers made a free throw, former Kernel Kerri Young banked a three-point shot with seven seconds left to bring SDSU within one point, 77-76. When UNI's Sharnae Lamar missed one of two ensuing free throws, the Jacks' Alexis Alexander raced the length of the floor of the miss and made a layup at the horn, tying the game at 78 and sending it to a second overtime.
In the second overtime, the lead flip-flopped back and forth before Ellie Thompson's bucket with 13 seconds left put the Jacks (7-2) up 87-86, a lead they would hold until the end. Thompson led the Jacks in scoring with 23 points and 10 rebounds.
Young finished the game with 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting, including four three-point shots. She also had six rebounds. Miller had 18 points on 6-of-19 shooting from the field and fouled out at the end of the first overtime.
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Northern Iowa (3-5) used a 12-0 run at the end of the first half to build a 43-30 halftime lead. In the third quarter, SDSU picked away at the Panther lead, trimming it to two points at the end of the third with a Macy Miller layup to make it 54-52 UNI. In the fourth quarter, the Panthers erased an eight-point SDSU lead with 4:28 left to force the game to overtime.
