The Game
South Dakota picked up its third-straight 20-win season last week at Fort Wayne and has now won 20 games in five of nine Div. I seasons. Tonight, the Coyotes are looking for their first regular season sweep over the Golden Eagles in program history. The Coyotes have a 10-1 home court record and average 79 points per game while shooting 49 percent from the floor. Meanwhile, opponents are shooting 40 percent and averaging 64 points inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.
The Coyotes
South Dakota has won three of five with losses coming to league-leading South Dakota State and Western Illinois. The Coyotes are led by a trio of guards in
Allison Arens,
Jaycee Bradley and
Ciara Duffy. Duffy has averaged 14 points in the last five games to lead a well-rounded offense. The Yotes are coming off their best shooting percentage of the season, 62.5 percent at Fort Wayne, where Duffy finished 9-of-11 and
Abigail Fogg was 8-of-10 with her first career double-double. Additionally, the Coyotes continue to lead the nation in free-throw shooting at 81.3 percent.
The Golden Eagles
Oral Roberts, picked fourth in the preseason poll, has lost three of four to drop to sixth in league standings. The Golden Eagles had five nonconference losses with four to Power Five schools. They also had nonconference road wins at No. 12 Oklahoma and Arkansas. Oklahoma State transfer, Lakota Beatty, was averaging 15 points in nonconference. She was sidelined for six games with a knee injury, but returned last Saturday. Two key stats for the Golden Eagles are steals and offensive boards. ORU averages 8.4 steals and 12.0 offensive rebounds a game, which both rank second in the Summit League. Faith Ihim leads the Summit with 3.1 offensive rebounds per game. Her 8.0 boards overall also tops the Summit.
Race to the Summit
The battle for the regular season Summit League title continues tonight. Entering tonight's games, there are three teams with only three losses at the top of the standings. Two of them, South Dakota State (10-3) and Western Illinois (10-3), face off in Macomb tonight. South Dakota (9-3) is the third. IUPUI, who knocked off SDSU last Saturday, is one game back at 9-4.
