March 11, 2013

Final Stats |  Photo Gallery  | Championship game notes

SIOUX FALLS, S.D.—South Dakota made 20 of 26 shots in the second half and got a career-high tying, 27-point effort from Nicole Seekamp in an 82-72 win against IUPUI in a Summit League Tournament semifinal game Monday at Sioux Falls Arena. The Coyotes face South Dakota State at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday in the final with an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament on the line.

Seekamp scored 23 second-half points on 8 of 9 shooting in rallying the Coyotes from a 31-28 halftime deficit. She made three 3-pointers, hit mid-range jumpers and stole two passes that led to break-away layups. She also hit Lisa Loeffler with a behind-the-back pass and Loeffler drained a 10-footer that gave USD a 66-55 lead with 4:51 to go.

As good as Seekamp was, it was a balanced attack that got South Dakota (17-14) into the final. Tempestt Wilson scored 14 points, Polly Harrington had 11 and Loeffler made five jumpers for 10. The Coyotes’ only starter not in double figures, point guard Alexis Yackley, handed out nine assists and made both shots she took for four points.

The teamwork helped offset the 32-point performance of IUPUI forward Kerah Nelson, who made 12 of 21 shots. Nelson totaled five points in two prior meetings against South Dakota, but had 16 in both halves Monday. Nevena Markovic added 13 points for the Jags (20-11).

IUPUI was 11-3 in its final 14 games of the season. All three were double-digit losses to South Dakota.

The Jags got out to a 17-7 lead behind seven early points from Nelson. Harrington and Seekamp both had two fouls early, but USD head coach Amy Williams worked them in and out of the lineup throughout the remainder of the half and neither picked up their third foul.

Sam Mehr’s three-pointer ignited a 14-2 run that put the Coyotes in front 23-20 with seven minutes left in the first. Mehr, who hit four three-pointers Sunday, added three more in this one for nine points.

IUPUI extended its halftime lead to 37-32 three minutes into the second half. Seekamp got a layup and then hit a 3 to tie the game at 37-37. The Coyotes later scored 11 unanswered points on five consecutive possessions and led 50-44 with 11 minutes to go.

The Jags closed within three, 51-48, when Yackley scored her first points on a short runner. Seekamp then stole a ball and scored. Yackley beat the shot clock with an fade-away bank shot and the lead was 57-49 with seven to go.

Seekamp’s third 3 of the game made it 64-55 with 5:23 left. Her behind-the-back pass to Loeffler followed and USD was on its way to the final. The Coyotes made all four 3-pointers they took in the second half and finished 7 of 11 from beyond the arc. USD was also 23 of 27 from the free-throw line.

TV, Radio for the final:  Tomorrow's championship game will be televised live on ESPNU. Melissa Lee and Steffi Sorensen will have the call. You can listen to the radio broadcast on 106.3 KVHT and AM 1230, FM 98.1 KWSN where Rod Pattison serves as voice of the 'Yotes.

Ticket information:  Summit Championship tickets are available through the Coyote Ticket Office starting at 8 a.m. Tuesday. Call 605-677-5959 for ticket information.

Notes
--Attendance for this afternoon's women's semifinal session was 5,245. That figure is a record for a women's semifinal session, topping the previous mark of 4,725 in 2009.

--The 2013 Summit League Tournament has drawn 25,495 fans though the first five sessions. That mark is 3,332 ahead of the pace of last year's record-setting tournament total.

--South Dakota becomes only the second current member to advance to the championship game in its initial season of eligibility, joining South Dakota State in 2009.

--The Championship game matchup between South Dakota State and South Dakota marks the third time in four years that the No. 1 and No. 3 seeds have met for the title.

--The South Dakota State-South Dakota matchup is the first intrastate Championship game in Summit League women's basketball history. Intrastate foes have squared off on the men's side three times.

--The nine assists by USD's Alexis Yackley is tied for the fifth-highest total in Summit League Tournament history and are the most since the 2011 Championship.

Quotes

South Dakota head coach Amy Williams

"Well, I am just beaming. I am just thrilled to death, just so proud of this team and obviously, in my personal opinion, Nicole Seekamp's best game in a Coyote uniform. The great thing I told the team about our team right now is that we are not a one-man show we have four people in double figures and a lot of people contributing and another great team win here in this tournament that allows us to kind of survive and advance."

on how it feels to be playing in the league championship
"Well, it means a great deal. It just makes me so proud of my team. I tried to just really hammer home early in the season that we need to stick with this, stick with this, stick with this and it would have really been easy for our kids to kind of fold and start crumbling and we had a couple really tough losses at Boise State and at Utah State early in the year and we didn't play- we certainly didn't look like the same team that's out there right now. I knew it was going to take a little time, but we talked early about our goal is to be playing our best basketball in March, and to stick with it and they did. They had that kind of commitment to what we were doing and they stayed bought in and it's paid off now for them."

on if we've seen the best basketball by this team
"I think in spurts, I certainly don't feel like we've put it together for forty minutes, but in spurts we look pretty good, good enough to beat anyone in our league. We're going to have to put that together and play a little more consistently. We've had a couple of good second halves in this tournament and we're a little slow and sluggish in the first half. So, we're not going to be able to do that against South Dakota State, we'll be buried if we do. So we're going to have to put together forty straight minutes of it, but certainly at times I feel like we're playing pretty good basketball right now."

on what she said to the team in the locker room at halftime that motivated the shooting improvement
"Well I did tell them in the locker room that we're a second half team, and this is our half for sure. But I didn't expect the shooting average to be turned around. I love the fact that all three of them just sat up here and talked about defense, defense, defense—that's awesome! Shooting 77 percent in the second half didn't hurt, that's for sure, but some of that was sparked off of some defensive steals and easy layups that kind of kicked us going in the right direction in the second half."

on what this championship game means for the program as a whole
"It means a lot for our program. First and foremost I'm thrilled for the young women we currently have in our program to be on that type of stage and to get that kind of recognition and exposure for our program and all the blood, sweat, and tears they've laid on the line for this program over the last several years, helping lead us through this transition. I'm glad they've got this opportunity to be in this kind of situation, but it's certainly also great for our program just to let other young women- perspective young women- to know that there's another outstanding college within the state and an outstanding women's basketball program and we certainly feel like this opportunity is going to help with our recruiting."

on having a good second half and what happened after halftime
" I think it was just our defensive pressure again, pretty much. And it's not like I'm just going to come out there and do it all for myself, it's for the whole team and I think the whole team contributed in some way and I just fed off that and fed off the crowd and made shots."

on how she feels going against South Dakota State tomorrow
"Excitement. This is going to be a great game and it's pretty good that it's two home state teams, I'm sure our team is excited. Our team hasn't beaten them this year so going into this, we're ready and we've had two great games so hopefully we can carry this onto the next game."

on head coach Amy Williams' first year leading the program
"Oh gosh… She's been great. She's really helped us along in this program. Obviously, in the start, it was hard for us to kind of get going, but hopefully these last two games have shown how we've come under her program and came as a team. We're starting to get into a groove on our offenses and our defenses and I'm sure we all love exactly what she's doing and it's worked for us, so it's been great."

"It feels great! I wasn't really thinking about it, in the end which I think helps if you don't think about it when you shoot it, it usually goes in. But I was getting goose bumps out there just thinking about the next game as well and this game and it was great. I think I just fed off the crowd and the atmosphere, it was great, and the team played really well and that helped me. I've never been one to just- if the team's not playing well, to just play it, it's always been a team game for me."

South Dakota guard Tempestt Wilson

on her second half steal and the second half of the game
"I think a lot of it was our intensity and like Nic (Nicole Seekamp) said about our ball pressure. I was just in the passing lane and it just kind of got me going off of that. I think all of us together playing great defense and having great defensive pressure just really got our intensity level up."

on being able to play in The Summit League Championship as a senior against South Dakota State
"It means a lot to me, I'm very excited. We've waited for this moment for a really long time and myself and my three other seniors are really looking forward to it and the team as well and we're really excited."

on what this finals game means after the ending to last year's season
"Oh yeah, I mean us just coming into this league, It means a lot to us. We really have been looking forward to this moment and we've fought so long and so hard and, plus, coming together as a team now and working so hard, we're really excited for tomorrow's game."

South Dakota guard Alexis Yackley

on what it means to be playing South Dakota State in the finals
"I'm really excited about it, I mean we've lost to them twice and it was two heartbreakers for us and I think this is what we've waited for and the whole entire state, and the all the fans have been waiting for: a USD / SDSU matchup. I'm really excited to be the first one in The Summit League Tournament to give the state of South Dakota that. I have some family on the SDSU side and my brother goes there, so it will be exciting to hopefully beat them tomorrow."

on playing against and beating IUPUI multiple times this year
"We had some really good defensive game planning and obviously we switched it up a lot going one-man sometimes and floating off certain players that don't really hurt us as much from the outside and going non-personnel a lot. And this was- like you said- our third time playing them so we kind of know them, but that can also kind of bite you sometimes, too. But luckily, we buckled down that second half and we really stepped our intensity up in defense and talked and here we are."