Photo by Evan Patzwald/South Dakota State South Dakota State’s Madison Mathiowetz takes a jumper during the Summit League Championship game against Oral Roberts on March 9 at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

BROOKINGS, S.D. — Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s graduate Madison Mathiowetz is not unfamiliar with playing in big games.

After making it to the Minnesota State Class A Girls Basketball Tournament in 2021 as a high school junior, Mathiowetz is now in her junior year of college with the South Dakota State Jackrabbits and will be competing in her third consecutive NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament Saturday.

Playing in the big games is one thing, but making a run is another.

Mathiowetz and the No. 10 Jackrabbits (29-3) will look to start that tournament run when they take on the No. 7 Oklahoma State Cowgirls (25-6) in a first-round matchup at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Connecticut.

“They are a physical team,” Mathiowetz said. “They actually play a super fast and up-tempo game, which is very similar to like Oral Roberts in our conference, so we’ve gotten to see that before, but it’s a tough offense to play against considering we like to control the tempo and slow it down and play within our offense and our system. So I think it’ll just be slowing them down and not letting them get hot, just playing our defense, playing our game and not letting them rush us, that’ll be the biggest challenge, but it’s definitely something that we can overcome.”

The Cowgirls are led by 5-11 sophomore guard Stailee Heard’s 16.7 points and 8.7 rebounds per game. Heard is also shooting 47.8% from the floor and 40.9% from beyond the arc. Micah Gray, a 5-8 junior guard, adds 13.8 ppg for the Cowgirls, while 5-8 senior guard Anna Gret Asi averages 11.7 ppg.

Mathiowetz, a 5-10 guard, averages 8.7 ppg this season for her Jackrabbits, fourth on the team. The Jackrabbits are led by 6-2 junior forward Brooklyn Meyer’s 17.4 ppg and 5.8 rpg. Redshirt junior and 5-11 guard Haleigh Timmer is adding 13.1 ppg, while 5-6 senior guard Paige Meyer is scoring 12 ppg.

As a team, South Dakota State has outscored opponents this season 76.3 ppg to 61.4 ppg while outshooting them 48.3% to 38.5%. The Jackrabbits are averaging 12.7 turnovers per game.

Oklahoma State is outscoring opponents 76.7 ppg to 60 ppg while outshooting them 45% to 36.7%. The Cowgirls are averaging 15 turnovers per game.

The Jackrabbits, winners of three consecutive Summit League Tournament championships, were the ninth seed in the NCAA tourney in 2023 and defeated eighth-seeded USC in a first-round matchup before falling to top-seeded Virginia Tech in the second round. Last year, the Jackrabbits were seeded 12th and fell in the first round to fifth-seeded Utah.

After those two straight appearances, Mathiowetz said the team is looking to build on them and bring a more confident level of play this year.

“I think last year we got a really good taste again of the NCAA Tournament and what that feels like and the competitiveness and the level that we need to play at to succeed there,” Mathiowetz said. “I think just going into this year’s, knowing that we had a great nonconference, obviously we ran the table in the conference season, just knowing that we have the ability and we have the skill to make a run for it in this tournament is huge for us. That confidence will be huge for us come game time.”

Mathiowetz was the ironwoman for the Jackrabbits last year as she led the team in minutes played with 798, an average of 30.2 minutes per game. She was also third on the team in both scoring (11.5 ppg) and assists (2.5 apg).

Mathiowetz is still well involved in the Jackrabbits’ game plan and has started all 32 games she’s played this season, but she’s seen the team become more developed with more options to step in off the bench. This season, Mathiowetz is averaging 24.9 mpg.

“Obviously last year was a little bit of a different season with a lower number of girls on our team,” Mathiowetz said. “This year I think we have so much talent and so much depth, and it’s honestly been the biggest blessing and it’s the biggest strength of our team. …

“The difference in minutes isn’t much, but it also helps us stay fresh and play our best basketball throughout the entire game and I think that’s been huge coming down at the end of games and in tough stretches that we’ve been able to come out on top of. So I think continuing to be a solid leader, a solid presence out there, but also knowing that you don’t have to be perfect every game is nice to kind of have that and have those girls behind you.”

No women’s team in history seeded below three has ever won the National Tournament. If the Jackrabbits want to make a Cinderella run and make history, Mathiowetz said continuing the team’s consistency and relying on their coaching staff, captained by head coach Aaron Johnston, will be key.

“I think our consistency as a team and our coaching staff does such a great job of preparing us and getting us mentally and physically ready to play some of these teams from some of the best conferences across the country,” Mathiowetz said. “And I just think our consistency in practice, our ability to constantly be competitive with each other and make each other better is something that will really help us when we got to play these tough schools and tough teams in March, the best time.”