After knocking on the door twice before, South Dakota State will play in the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament after upsetting third-seeded Syracuse on their home floor, 75-64.

SDSU, the number-six seed got a big second half from Madison Guebert, whose three-point shooting keyed a fourth quarter run that ran the Jacks win streak to 18 straight, the longest current streak in the nation.

Guebert finished with 20 points and was 6-of-10 from behind the arc.

The Jackrabbits got off to a quick start in the first quarter with Myah Selland scoring four points in the first two minutes to give SDSU a four-point advantage. Selland finished with 17 points.

Syracuse went on a run later with seven straight points from Kiara Lewis and the Orange led by four points after the first quarter, shooting 63 percent in the first ten minutes.

The Jacks started the second quarter cold allowing Syracuse to push the lead to 11 with 4:03 left as Lewis scored nine points off the bench in the first half.

SDSU got great bench play from Paiton Burkhard who scored nine of her own in the first 20 minutes.

The Jackrabbit defense tightened late in the first half, turning the Orange over, keying a 9-0 SDSU run to end the half with State down 38-36. The Jacks forced eight first half turnovers.

In a game of runs, South Dakota State used a big 13-0 spurt in the third quarter to grab a nine-point advantage, but Syracuse used a tenacious full court press and zone defense to start the fourth quarter with ten unanswered points to swing the momentum back in their favor.

But then Guebert starting heating up, hitting back-to-back three-pointers as the Jackrabbits reeled off eight straight points to grab a lead they would never relinquish.

South Dakota State (28-6) now plays third-seeded Oregon in Portland, Friday (March 29) night. The Jackrabbits hosted the Ducks back in December and led by as many as nine points in the third quarter before being outscored 25-9 to end the game in a 87-79 loss. The Jacks turned it over 14 times in that game.


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