Mar. 17—BROOKINGS, S.D. — The nation's No. 1 shooter from 3-point range entering the NCAA women's basketball tournament is from a town of 450 people.
Emilee Fox is the pride of Mount Vernon, South Dakota, and she'll be in the starting lineup on Friday when the South Dakota State women's basketball team plays in the NCAA tournament for the fourth year in a row against Washington in Fort Worth, Texas.
Fox, a 5-foot-8 sophomore guard, is shooting 47.7% from 3-point range, making 53 3-pointers on 111 attempts in 26 games this season. That is a tenth of a percentage point ahead of Kansas' Elle Evans — a North Dakota State transfer — who is in second at 47.6%, but the Jayhawks didn't make the 68-team Big Dance.
"She's an elite shooter, she puts a ton of time into her game, not just this year but every year," SDSU coach Aaron Johnston said. "She's incredibly driven. She's earned all of her success."
The drive from Fox has been apparent in her statistics. She shot 34.6% on 3-pointers in 2024-25, her freshman season, when she averaged 3.4 points per game. This season, she's averaging 8.2 points per game for SDSU. Fox drained seven 3-pointers in a win over Kansas City on a 9-for-12 shooting day overall for a career-high 26 points on Feb. 14. She also had five 3-pointers and 17 points in a 103-76 home win over Oral Roberts on Jan. 10.
Fox said she didn't know about being on the national leaderboard until recently, when it popped up online, and her teammates and coaches filled her in. Even then, she has dished out the praise like any good guard would.
"Honestly, I didn't even realize it until they said something," Fox said. "But, I mean, it just comes down to teammates getting me open and taking the right shot."
Fox, who was injured for part of December before returning for conference play, has started all 26 games she's been in this season for the Jacks. She said she's benefited from having a year of experience going through conference play and into the Summit League tournament. She was an all-Summit League honorable mention player during the regular season, shooting 49.3% in conference play and averaging 9.3 points per game.
The Jackrabbits, seeded No. 11 in their NCAA region, will play No. 6 Washington in the first round at 1:30 p.m. Friday in Fort Worth, Texas. With a win, they will either play No. 3-seeded host Texas Christian or No. 14 UC San Diego.
Even as a known 3-point threat, Fox gets her share of open looks from the outside thanks to SDSU having a handful of strong shooters. Madison Mathiowetz leads the team with 57 3-pointers and shoots better than 40% from long range, and Mahli Abdouch, Hadley Thul and Ellie Colbeck all shoot better than 36% on 3-pointers, as well.
"My teammates always have my back, and we have so many good options on this team, we're all able to get quality looks when we play well off each other," Fox said.
Johnston said Fox is a great team player who is fully committed to the Jacks having success, with her own honors being secondary.
"When you watch her play, she's pretty mild-mannered, pretty calm, but she has got a huge heart," Johnston said. "Everything matters to her. She's very thoughtful about what she does. She wants to do well for her team, loves SDSU, and to see her make those shots out there is phenomenal."
Fox got a sampling of the NCAA tournament in 2025, playing in two games in Storrs, Connecticut, as the Jacks beat Oklahoma State and then fell to eventual national champion UConn in the second round. This time around, she's looking forward to more March successes.
"I'm super excited," Fox said. "I can't wait to go back. It's what every little girl who plays basketball dreams about doing, and I know we're all looking forward to it."
