GREELEY, COLO. - The 13th-ranked South Dakota women's basketball team (13-1, 3-0) stayed perfect in conference play with a 56-45 win over Northern Colorado Saturday afternoon in front of 314 fans at Butler-Hancock Hall in Greeley, Colo. The Bears dropped to 9-6 overall and 2-2 in NCC play.

The Coyotes held Northern Colorado to just 34.7 percent shooting from the floor on 17-of-49 shooting, while USD also struggled from the field, hitting only 38.3 percent of its shots from the floor (18-of-47).

Leading the defensive effort for South Dakota was junior forward Stacy Schooley, who had a career-high nine steals. Schooley, a native of Watertown, S.D., added six points and six assists in the win.

Junior forward Mandy Koupal narrowly missed out on her eighth double-double of the season, putting together a 23-point, nine-rebound performance. The Wagner, S.D., native hit on 9-of-13 shots from the floor, while also knocking down all four of her attempts from the charity stripe.

USD held a 23-15 halftime advantage, before opening the second half on a 10-2 run to take a 16-point lead with 15:39 to play at 33-17. UNC answered with a 7-0 run over the next three minutes to cut the Coyote advantage to nine at 33-24.

South Dakota was able to build its lead back to 14 after a Koupal three-pointer with 4:15 on the clock, before the Bears put together another 7-0 run to pull within seven at 50-43 with 2:55 remaining.

The Coyotes held off Northern Colorado down the stretch though, hitting all six of their free throws, including four from Schooley, to put away the Bears.

Freshman Renae Luecke was USD's second leading scorer with nine points off the bench. Luecke, a native of Sioux Falls, S.D., was 3-of-9 from behind the three-point arc.

USD held Northern Colorado's leading scorer, Missy Borell, to just 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting.

Northern Colorado won the rebounding battle, 33-31, but turned the ball over 22 times, compared to 16 for the Coyotes. At the free throw line, USD knocked down 12-of-14 attempts (85.7 percent), while UNC was 8-of-10 from the line (80 percent). From long-range, South Dakota was 8-of-24 from the three-point line (33.3 percent). Northern Colorado only managed to hit 3-of-15 from downtown (20 percent).

South Dakota will put its 13-1 record on the line next week when it returns to action against top-ranked South Dakota State in Brookings, S.D., on Thursday. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Frost Arena.