Dec. 4, 2014
Final Stats
VERMILLION, S.D. – Tia Hemiller scored a career-high 20 points while three more Coyotes added double-digit point totals as the South Dakota women's basketball team started its five-game homestand by topping Northern Iowa 85-77 in the DakotaDome on Thursday night.
Hemiller upped her previous career-high of 17 points that she recorded two weeks ago at Washington. She was 6-of-8 shooting in the game and 3-for-3 from beyond the 3-point arc. She also added six rebounds to the Coyote effort.
The Coyotes (5-2) have now won three straight. They never trailed in the game, shot 60 percent from the field (32-of-53) and outscored the Panthers 38-24 in the paint.
Outside Hemiller, Nicole Seekamp added 16 points and five assists while Margaret McCloud added 14 points and five rebounds. Raeshel Contreras had 11 points while Lisa Loeffler and Kate Liveringhouse both added eight points. Bridget Arens was USD's leading rebounder with seven.
UNI (1-5) was led by Madison Weekly's 21 points and Stephanie Davison's 17 points. Jen Keitel added 14 points and eight rebounds.
USD led by 16 with 13:06 remaining, but had to withstand a late Panther charge that cut the lead to 78-73 with 1:22 left. The Coyotes scored on their last four possessions of the game with Hemiller recording five points and an assist during the final 80 seconds.
Seekamp led the Coyotes in the first half with 10 points. No Coyote shot under 50 percent and the team was a combined 17-of-28 shooting in the half. Hemiller scored nine points (all coming off 3-pointers) while Liveringhouse and McCloud added six points each.
UNI was 11-of-26 shooting (42.3 percent) in the first half and trailed 43-35 at the break.
Three Panthers scored double-digit point totals in the second half. Weekly tallied 11 points while Davison and Keitel both added 10. Hemiller was the lone Coyote to record double-digit second half points with 11, but USD shot 60 percent (15-25) from the floor and were 11-of-12 (91.7 percent) from the charity stripe.
In the all-time series between the two programs, the home team has now won 10 of its 11 meetings.
South Dakota will host Cal State Fullerton on Saturday at 2 p.m.
