VERMILLION, S.D. - Led by a record-breaking performance by Jeana Hoffman, The University of South Dakota women's basketball team won the North Central Conference outright with an 82-42 win over Augustana before 4,370 in attendance on Thursday night at the DakotaDome.

The Coyotes, ranked third in NCAA Division II, improved to 11-0 in the league. South Dakota won for the 23rd straight time and now stand 25-1 on the season. The U captured an outright NCC title for the first time since the 1984-85 season. It is the fifth NCC title for the Coyotes (shared or outright) and the first crown since 2002-03. USD head women's coach Chad Lavin has coached all five NCC women's basketball championship teams at USD.

Now the Coyotes will host St. Cloud State at 2 p.m. on Saturday with a chance to go unbeaten in league play. North Dakota is the last team from the NCC to go unbeaten in league play (2005-06, 34-1, 12-0 NCC). If USD wins on Saturday, they would be just the second team in league history to finish a 12-game league season unbeaten and just the sixth NCC team to have a perfect mark in NCC play.

The U swept the season series against Augustana. On January 12, the Coyotes defeated Augustana, 85-80 in overtime, at the Sioux Falls Arena. By defeating the Vikings, USD won for the 15th consecutive time at home, including 13-0 this season.

Jeana Hoffman (Sr., Mitchell, S.D.) finished with 12 points, including 4-of-8 from three-point range. With that effort, she broke The U's single season record for three-point field goals in a season with 92. The old record was held by Shelby Peterson who had 89 in the 1991-92 season. Hoffman also moved to fourth on the career 3-point list with 163 (Jenni Flynn, 161, 2003-06).

Junior forward Bridget Yoerger (Hinton, Iowa) led the Coyotes with 13 points and nine rebounds. For Yoerger, she reached double-digits for the 58th time in her career.

Jenna Hoffman (Sr., Mitchell, S.D.) added 10 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals. Senior forward Ashley Robinette (South Sioux City, Neb.) scored nine points, including a trio of three-point field goals. She now has 130 in her career which ranks seventh on The U's career list.

The Coyotes' outside game was key to their win. They converted 14-of-33 three-point field goals for 42.4 percent. In the past two seasons, The U is 22-2 when making at least 10 three-point shots in the game. Overall, USD made 31-of-71 from the field for 43.7 percent and also connected 6-of-13 free throws for 46.2 percent.

Augustana, which hit just 27.3 percent from the field, was led by Molly Hayes with nine points. The Vikings, which trailed 42-20 at halftime, dropped to 21-8 overall and 7-5 in the league.

The U's defense has been a constant all season. For the second time this season, they held an NCC opponent to 42 points or less. In rolling to the win, the Coyotes forced Augustana into 16 turnovers while recording nine steals and blocking two shots. USD, which won the rebound battle, 51-37, committed just eight turnovers.

The Vikings scored the first basket of the game but after that, the Coyotes controlled the game. A pair of three-point field goals by Robinette provided USD with a 6-2 lead at the 17:05 mark.

Yoerger scored six consecutive points midway through the first half to give USD an 18-6 lead. On The U's next possession, Maggie Youngberg (Jr., Yankton, S.D.) hit a three-point field goal for a 21-6 lead with 9:27 to go in the half. From that point, South Dakota went on a 18-5 run to increase the lead to 39-14 at the 4:19 mark of the opening half. Paced by a 14-4 advantage of points in the paint, the Coyotes took a 42-20 lead to halftime. The 22-point halftime lead was The U's second largest of the season (23 points, College of St. Mary, December 2, 2007).

The Vikings cut the USD lead to 42-25 at the 19:02 mark of the second half but that was as close as they would get for the rest of the game. A three-point play on a basket and foul shot by Yoerger pushed South Dakota's advantage to 48-27. The Coyotes continued to build on the lead as Shannon Daly's (Sr., Groton, S.D.) lay-up with 11:43 left increased the lead to 61-32. Kara Iverson's (Rfr., Yankton, S.D.) basket with 30 seconds left in the game gave USD the biggest lead of the game at 40 points (82-42).