South Dakota State basketball: Paige Meyer steps into larger leadership role for the Jackrabbits
After returning from an ACL tear prior to the start of the conference schedule last season, South Dakota State women’s basketball junior guard Paige Meyer is looking forward to starting the season healthy.
Meyer was the only Jackrabbits player voted onto the preseason All-Summit League First Team by coaches across the conference.
“It's kind of crazy that the first game is just around the corner,” Meyer said Wednesday. "We're getting excited at practice. We've been working towards it this summer and now in preseason. So, we're excited that it's almost finally here.”
Playing without their starting point guard to start the 2022-23 season was a challenge for the Jackrabbits, especially with such a difficult non-conference schedule. They went 8-5 during a non-conference slate that included four matchups with top 25 teams.
When Meyer returned, she was thrown into the fire: On Monday, Dec. 19 she played her first game when SDSU played Oral Roberts to start Summit League play. Meyer played 21 minutes off the bench, scored nine points, grabbed five rebounds, dished three assists and came up with three steals.
Like most players returning from such a big injury, it took Meyer some time to regain her rhythm and timing, but with the support of her teammates, trainers and staff, she was able to have some success when it mattered most.
The Jackrabbits made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament after upsetting No. 8 USC in an overtime thriller. Meyer started against the Trojans and scored 16 points and grabbed four rebounds.
“Paige went up against a couple of the best point guards in the country and in a really tough environment,” South Dakota State women’s basketball coach Aaron Johnston said. “She can kind of draw on that going into this year, like, ‘Hey, I belong on the floor with that caliber player.”
This season, Meyer is one of the captains on a younger team. She’s enjoyed watching the younger players get acclimated to their roles and seeing the team mesh during preseason practices. With key players moving on because of graduation and season-ending injuries to Haleigh Timmer and Kallie Theisen, the Jackrabbits will have plenty of new faces in new roles. Meyer will be one of the veterans the younger players look to.
“I'm excited to kind of take on that role this year,” Meyer said. “We lost a lot of good leaders last year, so I think just knowing that some of us have to step up in that role (excites me).”
SDSU senior Tori Nelson said that after seeing Meyer in preseason practices, she thinks people will quickly notice how much Meyer has improved since the end of last year.
“She gets a ton of touches on the ball on defense,” Nelson said. “Also her outside shooting, she's just knocking down shots all the time. And the pull-up game has gotten really good, coming off ball screens.”
For Johnston, Meyer's most marked improvement has come in her leadership. While she'd been a player who led by example from the point guard position in her first two seasons with the Jackrabbits, she’s seemingly changed her approach entering her junior season.
“You really see a difference, and it started this summer, just really vocal on the floor, a lot more confident and using her voice to either motivate somebody, to correct us on a play, to ask questions,” Johnston said. “It has been fun to see that part of her personality.”
Jonathan Fernandez covers high school and college sports for the Argus Leader. Contact him at jfernandez1@argusleader.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JFERN31
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: South Dakota State's Paige Meyer assuming larger leadership role
