San Jose, Calif.—South Dakota senior guard Tia Hemiller scored 19 points and grabbed six rebounds to lead the Coyotes 87-77 past San Jose State in The Event Center on Tuesday night.
 
South Dakota (6-3) has won six consecutive games. San Jose State (1-6) now has five losses from opponents that reached the WNIT in 2014-15.
 
The Mountain West Preseason Newcomer of the Year, junior guard Dezz Ramos, posted a new career high of 31 points to lead San Jose State. A transfer from Weber State, Ramos had nearly half of the Spartans' field goals on 12-of-18 shooting. Junior forward Jasmine Smith added 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting.
 
South Dakota's Australian duo of senior guard Nicole Seekamp and junior guard Jasmine Trimboli tallied 15 points apiece. Trimboli shot a solid 60 percent (6-for-10) from the field and 75 percent (3-for-4) behind the arc. Seekamp posted her third double-double of the season by adding 11 assists, one shy of her career high.
 
Seekamp's plethora of assists jumps two places in the program's all-time record books to fourth with 446. Alexis Yackley drops to fifth with 445 and Kelly Gese is sixth with 436. Seekamp has 50 assists this season alone, an average of 7.1 per game.
 
South Dakota jumped out to an early lead with 30 points in the first quarter. Seekamp had three of her four steals in the opening quarter as the Coyotes capitalized with 12 points off Spartan turnovers.
 
The Coyotes led 54-37 at half. Ramos hit a pair of buckets with 6:33 remaining in the fourth to close the gap to nine (73-64). A pair of triples from Trimboli and junior guard Caitlin Duffy, along with a layup by junior forward Bridget Arens with 4:15 to go pushed the lead back to 17.
 
The Coyotes slightly edged the Spartans in rebounds 34-31 with six each from Hemiller and senior center Margaret McCloud.
 
South Dakota returns home to host the Pac 12's Washington Saturday at 8 p.m. in the DakotaDome.