South Dakota tips off its fourth-straight Women's National Invitation Tournament with Houston at 7 p.m. Thursday inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center in Vermillion.

The Game
South Dakota makes its eighth-straight postseason appearance while Houston reaches the postseason for the first time in seven seasons. The match-up includes a face-off between the Coyotes tough defense and the Cougars high-powered offense. Both teams played four NCAA Tournament teams this season. USD holds a 3-3 record against 2018 NCAA teams with wins over South Dakota State and Creighton, while Houston is 1-3 with its win over Liberty.

The Coyotes
South Dakota (26-6, 14-0 Summit) earned the Summit League's automatic bid to the WNIT after becoming the first undefeated regular season champion since 1994. South Dakota is making its fifth appearance in the WNIT and fourth in consecutive years. The Coyotes are 9-3 all-time in the tournament. USD is led by first team all-Summit League honorees Ciara Duffy and Allison Arens each with 11 points per game, however, the Coyotes have had nine different leading scorers this season. That balance, coupled with USD's versatility in scoring both in the post and outside the arc, has led to USD's success this season. The league's best defense has bolstered the Coyote offense with 18.6 points off turnovers per game this season. The Coyotes also lead the Summit in all three shooting percentage categories for the second-straight season.

The Cougars
Houston (20-11, 9-7 American) received an at-large berth to the WNIT after finishing fifth in the American Athletic Conference. The Cougars had NCAA Tournament top-six seeds UConn and South Florida in regular season conference matchups. Houston's high-powered offense averages 74 points per game, just behind those two NCAA teams for scoring offense in the American. The Cougars are led by all-American second team guard Jasmyne Harris with 19.6 points per game and all-American third team guard Angela Harris with 14.9 points per game. Angela Harris also leads the American, and ranks 16th nationally, with 2.97 steals per game. This marks UH head coach Ronald Hughey's first 20-win season and the Cougars' best season since joining the American Conference in 2013. Historically, the Cougars have appeared in five NCAA Tournaments (last in 2011) and this marks their fifth WNIT.

The Series
Thursday marks the first meeting between the two programs.

One Last Thing
Snubbed again! There are several striking similarities between the 2016 and 2018 Coyotes. Both years USD won the regular season, won two of three meetings against second-seeded SDSU and found themselves in the WNIT on Selection Monday. Both teams entered the postseason with a 26-6 record, a similar RPI (59 in 2018, 62 in 2016) and similar records against top-50 RPI programs (2-3 in 2016, 3-2 in 2018). In 2016, the Coyotes regrouped and went on to win win the WNIT in front of a sellout crowd in the DakotaDome. USD finished 37 in the final RPI and was receiving votes in the AP poll.

The Summit League has not had two teams reach the NCAA Tournament since 1994. In that year, Northern Illinois swept the regular season (like South Dakota did this year) but was topped by two-seed Green Bay in the tournament championship game. Northern Illinois went on to receive an at-large berth to the Big Dance and a No. 11 seed.