VERMILLION, S.D.—Senior point guard Tia Hemiller scored 17 points to lead five South Dakota players who reached double figures in a 74-68 win against Creighton in a first round WNIT game inside the DakotaDome Wednesday.
 
South Dakota (27-6) knocked out Creighton (17-18) in the first round of the WNIT for the second consecutive season. The Coyotes advance to face Minnesota (20-11) at 2 p.m. Sunday inside Williams Arena in Minneapolis. The Gophers beat Milwaukee 87-80 Wednesday behind 48 points from Rachel Banham, the Big Ten Player of the Year.
 
Nicole Seekamp, the Summit League Player of the Year, scored 11 of her 15 points in the second half to help South Dakota rebound from a 33-30 halftime deficit. Seekamp also led the Coyotes with six rebounds, six assists and three steals. She'll enter Sunday's contest 13 points shy of 2,000 for her collegiate career.
 
Creighton freshman Audrey Faber made a season-high six triples and scored a game-high 25 points before fouling out with 17 seconds left. Sydney Lamberty added 15 points and MC McGrory had 12. The Bluejays made 12 of 20 from downtown, but were outscored 18-6 from the free-throw line.
 
Hemiller was 4 of 5 from the field, 3 of 3 from beyond the arc and 6 of 6 from the free-throw line. Her 3 with three minutes left in the third capped a 12-0 run and gave South Dakota its largest lead of the game at 48-38. She hit two free throws with 17 seconds left to put USD ahead 73-68.
 
Lauren Works came off Creighton's bench and scored all eight of her points during a three-minute stretch in the middle of the second half. She hit two triples and made two free throws that tied the game at 50-50 with 8:31 remaining.
 
Kelly Stewart answered with back-to-back 3's and eight points during a 10-0 run that put the Coyotes back on top 62-53 with 5:16 remaining. Stewart had 15 points, five rebounds and two assists. She's scored in double figures in five consecutive games.
 
Caitlin Duffy and Jasmine Trimboli scored 10 points each for the Coyotes, who shot 53 percent in the second half (14 of 26) after a 9 of 30 performance in the first (30 percent). South Dakota made 10 of 22 from downtown, 18 of 21 from the line and in second half, had 10 assists against three turnovers.
 
Stewart and Seekamp combined for 18 points in the fourth quarter on 6 of 7 shooting. Seekamp's only 3 of the game put USD ahead 69-61 with 2:35 remaining. Faber's sixth triple followed and Lamberty hit a tough jumper in the paint with 1:49 left that made it 69-66.
 
The score was the same when South Dakota had a throw in from next to its bench with five seconds on the shot clock and 49 seconds on the game clock. Duffy threw a perfect lob to Seekamp who outleaped her defender on the right block and scored an easy layup to make it 71-66 with 44 ticks left.
 
Faber hit a jumper on the ensuing possession to make it 71-68, but was forced to commit her fifth foul on the defensive end. Faber finished 8 of 17 from the field and 6 of 11 from 3-point land.
 
South Dakota is 0-6 all-time against Minnesota. The teams last met during the 1986-87 season.