Final Stats

MILWAUKEE – Raeshel Contreras scored a season-high 27 points as South Dakota scored six points in the final 15 seconds to top Marquette 69-65 in the Al McGuire Center on Sunday afternoon.

South Dakota (4-2) trailed 65-63 after Marquette's (2-4) Kenisha Bell scored on a layup with 24 seconds remaining. After a USD timeout, Tia Hemiller tied the game on a layup with 12 seconds left before Contreras was fouled after stealing the ensuing inbounds pass with 11 seconds remaining. Contreras converted on both free throw attempts to give USD a 67-65 lead.

Hemiller added the final two points of the game off a pair of free throws with two seconds remaining. She was fouled after grabbing a defensive rebound off a missed shot from MU's Arlesia Morse.

Contreras upped her previous season-high of 24 points and was 10-of-19 shooting in the game. Nicole Seekamp tallied 11 points, seven rebounds and five assists while Hemiller added 10 points, nine rebounds and four assists. Margaret McCloud added nine points and five rebounds while Kelly Stewart finished with eight points and seven rebounds.

Bell led Marquette with 22 points and eight rebounds while Morse had a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Lauren Tibbs tallied the most rebounds in the game with 15.

South Dakota forced the Golden Eagles into 20 turnovers and outscored MU 12-2 in fast break points and 17-9 in points off turnovers. Marquette did outscore the Coyotes 33-10 in bench points.

South Dakota jumped out to a 14-5 lead after the first 4:21 of the game, but scored only 15 in the remaining 15:39 of the first half. Contreras recorded 10 points during that initial run and 14 points total in the opening half. The Coyotes never trailed in the opening 20 minutes and led 29-20 at the break.

Marquette nearly mirrored the Coyotes' first half run to start the second half, going on a 13-4 run in the first 4:20 of the half. The teams would tie and swap the lead 10 times in the second half. Contreras added 13 points in the half while Seekamp added eight.

South Dakota will next play Northern Iowa in the DakotaDome on Thursday at 7 p.m.