March 10, 2014
Box Score |
SIOUX FALLS, S.D.--Polly Harrington made her first seven shots, Nicole Seekamp sank 13 free throws and Bridget Arens contributed 12 points off the bench as South Dakota beat top-seeded South Dakota State, 72-58, in a Summit League Tournament semifinal game at Sioux Falls Arena.
The Coyotes (18-13), who hit a last-second 3-pointer Sunday to reach the semifinal round, will take on sixth-seeded Denver (9-22) in Tuesday's championship game. ESPNU will televise the game live starting at 1 p.m.
Seekamp led all scorers with 19 points and had three assists and four steals. That followed a 26-point performance in an opening round win against Western Illinois. Harrington had 18 points and nine rebounds. Point guard Tia Hemiller had eight points, nine rebounds, four assists and three steals.
South Dakota State, which had won the previous five Summit League Tournaments, got 18 points from Megan Waytashek and 12 points from Steph Paluch. Kerri Young added eight points off the bench.
The Coyotes led from start to finish, jumping out to a 9-2 lead and taking a 37-25 lead into halftime. It was 54-31 USD with 12 minutes to go.
South Dakota State closed within 11 points in five minutes, but Seekamp and Kelly Stewart answered the bell with a pair of free throws each and Seekamp hit a jumper that made it 62-45 with 5:18 remaining. Free-throw shooting down the stretch sealed the deal.
Both teams shot well from the line, but not so great from the field. USD made 29 of 34 free throws compared to 21 of 28 for SDSU. The Coyotes, who made 12 three-pointers a day ago, missed their first 10 Monday and finished 1 of 13 from beyond the arc. The Jacks were 3 of 19 from long range.
Post-game quotes
South Dakota head coach Amy Williams
We're really excited to get this win and be back in the championship game again tomorrow. I feel like it was one of our best defensive games. We took a lot of offense to being outrebounded by 12 last game against the Jackrabbits. We addressed that today.
on how the team managed to keep its lead despite not shooting well in the second half
We didn't shoot the ball well in the first-half either. Seven percent from three-point range is not very good. We try not to depend on three-point shooting because sometimes it's there and sometimes it's not. We like to hang our hat on the defense and rebounding edge. We've been up and down with that this year, but we had it today; and I thought we did a good job getting to the foul line.
on being up 23 and then having the lead cut to 12 and at what point did the lead feel comfortable
It never felt comfortable. There were a couple minutes to go and I told my staff this might be the longest two minutes of my life. There was never really a comfort level in that ball game.
We had great energy and showed a lot of grit. Nicole Seekamp was up puking all night. I was worried if we could keep her. She completely impacted the game even if she didn't have enough lift to score from the perimeter. She's a fantastic player when I came into the program and she's gotten even better.
We've been a gritty team all year. We started conference season 0-4. We've had some rough patches [both on and off the court]. But we talked a lot on the team about how adversity can build character. We've got one more game to try to finish.
on having a number of scoring options
We know we're most dangerous when we have multiple options. It just becomes dangerous when you have many players who can step up and make contributions for our team.
on the team's preparation for the championship game
The good thing is we do have some players who were there and they know it's going to have to be a grind out. We'll be focused for sure.
on what this game means for the program
This is a great win for our program…We set our goals that we wanted to be champions. South Dakota State has that target on their backs and we wanted to knock them out, just like everybody else did.
on the team's reaction when SDSU was making its run
Our team stayed focused on what we needed to do on that next possession rather than get caught up in all that atmosphere.
South Dakota guard Tia Hemiller
on whether it was an advantage for USD to have already played a tournament game or was it an advantage for SDSU to be rested
I didn't know if it would be an advantage or a disadvantage for them. I thought it was an advantage for us to play in the first round and get the jitters out. We wanted to make a statement first. I thought we did a good job the first five minutes.
on how the team reacted when SDSU was making its run
Our teammates, everybody stayed calm and played smart. I thought our coach and our leader, Polly, kept our heads in it.
on what it means to knock off a team that has never been beaten in The Summit League tournament
It's just another game. (laughing) Not really though. (laughing again). I just knew it would take a lot of heart, and I wanted to do it for Polly. It just feels great to knock off the No. 1 team.
on preparing for the championship
We just need to go out steady and still play Coyote basketball.
South Dakota forward Polly Harrington
on what the team said before the game
We just wanted to have no regrets and give it our all.
on whether last year's SDSU win in the tournament championship play a role in the team's motivation
I think that's just something that was in the back of everybody's mind. All the returners were remembering what that was like, we don't want that feeling again.
on what the difference was between tonight and last week against SDSU
We rebounded today. We had a want-to and we rebounded. We did not give up a lot of second-chance points."
on whether she prepared herself differently for this game
I approached it that every rebound is going to be mine, I'm going to get the ball. Everybody wanted to give their all and they did.
on preparation for the championship game
I think Coach Williams helps us keep steady. We'll approach the game the way we always do — it' the next game on the schedule, so it's the most important game.
South Dakota forward Bridget Arens
on her thoughts in playing in a game like this as a freshman
The atmosphere with all the people and my teammates gets me going, but more than anything, I wanted to do it for [senior] Polly [Harrington] because it's her last go-around.
on whether playing in championship games with Crofton (Neb.) High School prepared her for this
I'm used to that kind of atmosphere and it just makes you want to go.
