Final Stats

BROOKINGS, S.D. — Megan Waytashek scored 18 points while Macy Miller recorded a double-double as South Dakota State topped the South Dakota women's basketball team 77-67 at Frost Arena on Saturday evening.

Overall, four Jackrabbits (19-8, 10-4) reached double-digit point totals. Miller finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds, Kerri Young added 12 points and Mariah Clarin tallied 10 points.

Nicole Seekamp led the Coyotes (21-6, 11-3) with 18 points, seven assists and six rebounds. Bridget Arens added 12 points and Margaret McCloud tallied 10 points and six rebounds.

The Coyotes would have clinched the Summit League's regular season title and the top-seed in the Summit League Tournament with a win, but now lead SDSU in the league standings by one game with two games remaining. If the teams finish in a tie, SDSU would hold the tiebreaker due to having a better record against whichever team finishes in third place.

USD and SDSU both finish the season by hosting Western Illinois and IUPUI, which are tied for third in the league standings at 9-5. Both USD and SDSU have beaten Western Illinois and lost to IUPUI this season.

The Coyotes matched the Jacks in shooting percentage as both teams shot 24-for-63 (38.1 percent) from the field. Both teams ended up with four 3-pointers as well. The difference was made at the charity stripe, as SDSU made 25 free throws on 32 attempts while USD made 15 on 20 attempts. USD committed 26 fouls in the game to SDSU's 21.

SDSU outrebounded the Coyotes 48-39, and turned 16 offensive rebounds into 15 second chance points. South Dakota held the edge in bench points (29-15), fast break points (12-8) and points off of turnovers (11-10).

Neither team led by more than four points after the first 15 minutes of the contest, but SDSU took advantage of a 1-for-12 shooting stretch by the Coyotes over a six minute period to create a 33-23 lead with 1:24 left in the half. Raeshel Contreras, who finished with eight points, hit a trey with 38 seconds remaining to cut the lead to seven, but Miller added a free throw before the end of the half to make it 34-26 at the break.

Miller nearly recorded her double-double in first half, finishing the period with 10 points and nine rebounds. Arens led the Coyotes with six points while Contreras added five points and four assists.

Despite trailing by 13 (43-30) early in the second half, South Dakota cut the lead to four on a 7-0 run during a 38 second stretch to make it 56-52 with 9:05 remaining. After SDSU grew the lead back to nine (63-54) off of a Miller layup with 6:51 remaining, the Coyotes couldn't cut the lead to less than seven the rest of the way.

Seekamp led USD scorers in the second half with 14 points, shooting 5-for-8 from the floor. She also dished out six assists in the half. Waytashek led SDSU with 10 points in the frame.

South Dakota will host IUPUI in the DakotaDome on Thursday at 7 p.m. The Coyotes will finish the season by hosting Western Illinois on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.