The Tournament
South Dakota women's basketball will spend the Thanksgiving holiday weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the South Point Thanksgiving Shootout. The Coyotes will play a pair of games inside the South Point Arena, first taking on Ohio State at 5:30 p.m. (CST) Friday and then Northern Illinois at 3:15 p.m. (CST) on Saturday.
 
The Coyotes
South Dakota (5-1) looks to bounce back after its first loss of the season to No. 22 Missouri State. The Coyotes finish off a tough November slate with a Thanksgiving tournament. It will be the first time South Dakota women's basketball will play a game in the state of Nevada, while it will be the second Thanksgiving tournament in Plitzuweit's tenure (2017 Cancun Challenge). Summit League Preseason Player of the Year Ciara Duffy has paced the Coyotes with six-straight double-figure games to start the year, averaging 17.7 points, 6.2 rebounds and six assists. Junior guard Monica Arens has been the big story early on though, with four new career high performances in the first six games. She's improved her scoring mark for three-straight games now, scoring a new best of 19 points against Missouri State on Monday. She became the second Coyote to score five 3-pointers in a game this season (Chloe Lamb vs. Drake) with her quintet against Missouri State. South Dakota has made the 10th-most 3-pointers in the nation this season with 55.
 
The Buckeyes
Ohio State (3-2) made the NCAA Tournament four of the last five years with a pair of Sweet 16 appearances. This year's Buckeyes are a young team this year, with just three upperclassmen on the roster. Ohio State's freshman class was the fourth-ranked recruiting class in the nation with four top-50 recruits. Three Buckeyes are averaging double-figures this season. The first is sophomore forward Dorka Juhasz, who was voted to the Preseason All-Big Ten team, averaging 11.3 points and 10.8 boards per game. Oklahoma state transfer, junior Braxtin Miller, will play the Coyotes for the second time in a Thanksgiving tournament (the first in the 2017 Cancun Challenge). She's averaging 11.2 points per game for the Buckeyes. Freshman Kierstan Bell, ranked No. 6 in the class, joined LeBron James as the only three-time Ohio High School Players of the Year. She's put up 10.4 points per game this season.
 
The Huskies
All five of Northern Illinois (2-3) games this season have been decided by six or fewer points this season with both wins coming in overtime. The Huskies have been on the road since Nov. 10 with only two nonconference home games outside of the Illinois Compass Challenge. Senior guard/forward Courtney Woods was named to the Cheryl Miller Award Watch List prior to the season. Woods has led the Huskies early by averaging 20 points per game.
 
The Series
The Coyotes meet Ohio State for the first time in program history.
 
South Dakota and Northern Illinois meet for the second time in program history, with both meetings coming on neutral floors in holiday tournaments. The first meeting was the Roo Holiday Classic (Kansas City, Missouri) in USD head coach Dawn Plitzuweit's first season. The Coyotes won the track meet 97-83 points thanks in part to 20 second-chance points. Current seniors would have been true freshmen in the game.
 
One Last Thing
The Coyotes tip-off against their third Power 5 foe in four games on Friday with the Big Ten's Ohio State. South Dakota owns wins over the SEC's Missouri and the Pac-12's Utah already this season. In all, Plitzuweit and this year's senior class have won six games against Power 5 competition (Illinois, Michigan State, Iowa State, Missouri x2, Utah). After Friday, the last Power 5 game on the schedule is No. 5 South Carolina of the SEC in December.