Summit League Postseason AwardsThe Summit League announced senior guard
Nicole Seekamp as the Summit League Player of the Year on Thursday. Head coach
Amy Williams was named Coach of the Year and junior guard
Caitlin Duffy was named Transfer of the Year. Seekamp earned a spot on the all-Summit League first team, senior guard
Tia Hemiller earned a spot on the all-league second team, senior guard
Kelly Stewart was honorable mention and Duffy was also on the all-newcomer team. Read the complete release
online here.
#March2theSummitSouth Dakota clinched back-to-back Summit League regular season titles and the tournament opening game with its No. 1 seed last week. In the program's three years of postseason eligibility, the Coyotes have reached the tournament's championship game each year. South Dakota was crowed Tournament champions in 2014, advancing to the NCAA Tournament where they fell to Stanford 81-62 in the first round. To reach this year's championship game, the road for the Coyotes is past Denver in the quarterfinal and through the Oral Roberts/Western Illinois victor in the semifinal.
The SeriesSouth Dakota leads the series 6-2 with six wins a row for the Coyotes. South Dakota swept Denver in the regular season with three solid halves. Denver's Paige Bradley shot a perfect 5-for-5 behind the 3-point line, including a half court shot, that kept the Pioneers within three the first half in Vermillion. The Coyotes closed it out to win 85-60 at home. On the road, South Dakota's solid defense held the Pioneers to 18 points in three quarters. Both Hemiller and Stewart scored in double figures in the 79-33 road win.
The GameSouth Dakota has won 14 straight, the program's longest winning streak in the Division I era, to reach a 15-1 mark in Summit League play. The Coyotes and the Pioneers were the "Cinderellas" of the 2014 Summit League Tournament as the No. 4 and No. 6 seeds that both reached the championship game.
Bradley will be the biggest challenge for the Coyotes to defend. She has led the Pioneers in scoring for nine league games and scored 32 triples in league play compared to 10 in non-conference. Of those 32, six have come against the Coyotes (18.8 percent) this season. Also on the court with Bradley are Jordyn Alt and Jesse Spittel. Alt averages the second-most rebounds per game in the league at 8.3. Spittel's 51.9 field-goal percentage ranks fourth in the Summit League.
A quick style of play with well-rounded scoring makes the Coyotes the nation's ninth-best scoring offense at 79.7 points per game. Seekamp leads the team with 16.1 points per game, but six players average between six and 11 points a contest. Defense has also been a point of emphasis through the second round of league games. League teams were held to 55 points per game in the second meeting compared to 68 the first time out against the Coyotes. This lethal combination has created the nation's 20th-ranked scoring margin at 14.8 points per game over opponents.
1,000 PointsSenior center
Margaret McCloud and junior guard
Jasmine Trimboli scored the 1,000th point of their careers at Fort Wayne Feb. 25. McCloud became the 12th player in program history with 1,000 points and 500 rebounds.
A record number of gamesHemiller, McCloud and Seekamp tied school records for career games played and career games started last Saturday. Hemiller and McCloud have played 126 career games to tie Jasmine Mosley (2006-10). Seekamp has started 121, which tied Annie Roche (2008-12).
