Summit League Preview: South Dakota Women at Fort Wayne, Host Doane
You might think with a 13-game winning streak that the South Dakota women's basketball team is running away with the Summit League in 2018. But as we head into the final three weeks of the regular season, the Coyotes are up just a game-and-a-half in the standings, with just one conference game on the slate this week.
USD (19-5/10-0 Summit League) travels to Fort Wayne tonight (February 7).
The Mastodons (4-19/1-9 Summit League) have lost six straight and are last or next-to-last in just about every offensive and defensive category in the Summit.
All four of their victories have come at home this season.
Junior guard De'Jour Young is Fort Wayne's leading scorer, averaging nine points a game in conference play. Junior guard Peyton Fallis and sophomore guard Hannah Albrecht each had double digit outings last week. Fallis scored 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting against Oral Roberts, Albrecht his six of her 11 shots against Denver, scoring 15 points.
The Coyotes won the first meeting 85-43. USD shot 74 percent in the first half and forced 22 turnovers in the game. Chloe Lamb scored a the-career high 16 points for South Dakota.
Tipoff is 5:00 PM, tonight in Fort Wayne.
Saturday (February 10), the Coyotes play their final non-conference game of the regular season when the host Doane.
The Tigers (7-18/2-15 Great Plains Athletic Conference) will be playing it as an exhibition game.
Tipoff is 1:00 PM, Saturday in Vermillion.
Last week, USD completed season sweeps of Western Illinois and North Dakota State.
In the 92-81 win over the Leathernecks, the Coyotes scored a season-high in points, including ten straight to start the second quarter. Jaycee Bradley scored 13 of her 21 points in the first 20 minutes.
After shooting just 27 percent in the first half, the Leathernecks found their shooting touch in the second half, hitting 62 percent from the floor, while draining nine three-pointers, cutting the USD lead to just three points in the final 6:29. Taylor Higginbotham led the way with 28 points in the game.
But the Coyotes sealed the victory with a 17-3 run to end the game. Jasmine Trimboli and Kate Liveringhouse were 8-of-9 in the second haldf for a combined 19 points.
Allison Arens finished the game with eight points, seven rebounds, six blocked shots, and six assists.
Saturday (February 3), South Dakota shot under 40 percent in the first half, but found their touch in the second half, shooting 58 percent in a 80-54 win over North Dakota State.
The Coyotes were without injured starter Allison Arens. Lamb came in off the bench to score a career-high 20 points. Ciara Duffy also finished with 20 points. Madison McKeever added 15.
The South Dakota defense limited the Bison to just 37 percent shooting for the game, forcing 16 NDSU turnovers.
I talked with USD head coach Dawn Plitzuweit about last week's sweep and this week's match-ups with Fort Wayne and Doane: