Dec. 1, 2012
VERMILLION, S.D.--Nicole Seekamp scored a career-high 27 points and Polly Harrington had 16 points and 11 rebounds to lead South Dakota to a 72-48 win against Utah Valley Saturday at the DakotaDome.
It was the second win in three games for the Coyotes (3-5) while the Wolverines (1-7) dropped their sixth in a row.
South Dakota head coach Amy Williams earned career win No. 100. She had 97 wins in five seasons at Rogers State before arriving in Vermillion this season.
Seekamp had 13 points at halftime and single-handedly out-scored Utah Valley 8-2 to begin the second half. South Dakota led 41-29 at the break and 58-37 near the midway point of the second half when Seekamp scored her 27th point. She finished 8-of-15 from the field and made four 3-pointers.
Harrington's physical presence inside helped give South Dakota a 47-36 edge on the boards. Freshman Margaret McCloud had a career-high 10 rebounds and finished one point shy of a double-double. Tia Hemiller, a 5-foot-6 freshman guard, added eight rebounds in 18 minutes off South Dakota's bench.
It was a frustrating night for reigning Great West Conference Player of the Year Sammie Jensen, who needed 17 shots to reach 10 points. She was Utah Valley's leading scorer. Tina Doughty added eight points off the Wolverines' bench.
Utah Valley entered the contest averaging 66 points per game, but shot 35 percent from the field (25-of-59) and was 2-of-11 from behind the arc. South Dakota made 10 three-pointers and was 18-of-26 from the free-throw line.
USD head coach Amy Williams' post-game quotes:
On the play of her team...
"This was a great team win for our team. We bounced back and made some corrections for some things we had been doing wrong in prior games. I am happy and proud of the girls."
On Nicole Seekamp's performance...
"This was a gutsy performance for her. She was feeling a little bit under the weather, but she gritted it out and stepped up for our team. She took good shots and was able to knock them down tonight. It was a great effort by her."
On the defense of Polly Harrington and Margaret McCloud on Utah Valley's Sammie Jensen...
"It was a great defensive effort by both of those ladies. We felt like it was going to be a tough matchup for us because Sammie is capable of pulling you away from the bucket and shooting the three and going off the dribble. I thought Polly and Margaret did an excellent job of mixing up the defense and containing her penetration and I thought she was frustrated for most of the night."
