SIOUX CITY, Iowa - South Dakota women's basketball team (13-10, 8-8 in the NCC) continued their late-season run by winning their fifth straight game - all North Central Conference encounters - by rolling to a big first-half lead and defeating Morningside College (4-20, 1-15 in the NCC), 81-58, at Allee Gym on Saturday night (February 17).
The Coyotes, who defeated the Mustangs, 72-50 at the DakotaDome on Jan. 20, improved their road record to 5-4 on the road and 3-4 in away games in the NCC. The win boosted the Coyotes' series lead over Morningside to 31-12. The Coyotes improved their conference record to 8-8 with two NCC games to play at St. Cloud State and Minnesota State-Mankato. The five straight NCC wins are the most by a Coyote team since the 1983-84 season when South Dakota won nine in a row en route to a conference championship. Interestingly, that squad was also coached by current Coyote head coach Chad Lavin, who returned to South Dakota three years ago after a stint at Wyoming.
"I thought we really played well in the opening 10 minutes. We got out to a 21-2 run and that was the key to the game," Lavin said in a post-game interview with Joe Van Goor of KVHT 106.3, The Coyote Sports Network. "Morningside got after us in the second half. They did some real nice things offensively and we couldn't hit any shots during the second half. But I was pleased with our balance and they way we got after it tonight," said Lavin, who improved his record at South Dakota to 113-78 (.590) mark at South Dakota and 287-241 (.543) record overall.
Speaking of balance, the Coyotes received 19 points from senior guard Kelly Koepp, 17 from senior guard Kelly Gese, 14 from freshman Krista Orsack and 12 points from sophomore forward Julia Frie.
South Dakota, which has led at halftime in five of the past seven games, again played a solid first half of play. Led by Koepp, the Coyotes opened up a 21-2 lead at 12:32 the mark of the first half. Koepp, who had 17 first-half points, scored 11 of the Coyotes' first 21 points. During that run, Koepp hit a pair of three-point baskets, a lay-up and a jumper. South Dakota increased their margin to 24-4 when sophomore Amanda Iverson had a lay-up and converted a free throw after being fouled. Morningside's Katie Lokken hit a three-pointer during a 7-4 run by the Mustangs, which closed the gap to 30-11 at the 8:44 mark. Back came the Coyotes as Orsack hit her third of four first-half three-pointers to give the Coyotes a 33-13 lead at the 8:05 mark. A lay-up by Gese moved the Coyotes lead back to 20 points (40-20) at the 3:20 mark. The Coyotes closed the half on a 7-2 run to grab a 50-25 halftime lead. Frie, who was fouled on a three-point shot with four seconds to play, made three free throws to close out the scoring in the first half.
In the opening 20 minutes, South Dakota hit 19 of 35 field goals for 54.3 percent and was hot from three-point range, connecting on seven of 13 for 53.8 percent. South Dakota was five of six from the free throw line. Besides Koepp, the Coyotes had two other players hit double figures in the first half as Orsack had 14 points and Frie added 10. The Coyotes won the first-half rebound battle, 22-21, as junior forward Alissa Koronkiewicz had four boards.
Morningside connected on just nine of 34 first-half field goals for 26.5 percent. The Mustangs were two of eight from three-point range and also hit five of eight free throws. Sydney LeFlore had seven points and Erica Thein had six scores to lead the Mustangs.
In the second half, the Coyotes maintained a double digit lead even while the Mustangs had a solid second half offensively, outscoring the Coyotes, 33-31. Two free throws by Gese gave the Coyotes a 54-29 lead with 17:24 to play. Another Gese lay-up gave the Coyotes a 58-33 lead to 13:21 in the game. But the Mustangs went on an 11-3 run to pull within 61-44 at the 10:16 mark. However, Morningside could not cut the margin lower than 17 points in the second half. Two consecutive baskets by Nelson gave the Coyotes a 65-46 lead with 9:10 to play. Morningside kept the pressure on as a lay-up by Danika Okerstrom cut the lead to 69-52 with 7:07 to play. But each time the Mustangs made a small run, South Dakota answered with a score. Freshman Jodi Schroeder gave the Coyotes a 75-56 lead to 3:11 to play. Iverson converted a lay-up and a foul shot and then made a three-pointer to give the Coyotes an 81-56 lead with 49 seconds left in the game. Katie Lokken closed the scoring with a pair of foul shots with 22 seconds to play in the game.
Overall, the Coyotes hit 32 of 68 field goals for 47.1 percent and knocked down eight of 20 three-point field goals for 40 percent and hit nine of 10 free throws for 90 percent. Also for South Dakota, Iversen had nine points and five rebounds.
Morningside made 21 of 63 field goals for 33.3 percent and hit just two of 10 three-point field goals. They converted 14 of 21 free throws for 66.7 percent. The Mustangs had a 47-37 advantage on the boards as the NCC's leading rebounder, Trish Martin, grabbed 12 boards. Thein led Morningside with 16 points while Beth Giesen added 10 and Leflore chipped in with 10 points.
