The Game
No. 22 South Dakota begins Summit League play on the road at Western Illinois and Purdue Fort Wayne. The road trip begins with Western Illinois at 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 29, inside Western Hall in Macomb, Illinois. The second game is scheduled against Purdue Fort Wayne at 11:30 a.m. (CST) inside Gates Sports Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

The Coyotes
No. 22 South Dakota (11-2) begins its ninth season in the Summit League. Women's basketball has won three regular season titles with its last coming in 2018 when USD ran the table. The Coyotes fell out of the latest Associated Press Top 25 after a 73-60 loss to No. 5 South Carolina on the road. This marks the third time in Plitzuweit's four seasons that the Coyotes finished nonconference with just two losses. Both of South Dakota's losses this season came against ranked opponents. Senior guard Ciara Duffy and junior center Hannah Sjerven were named to a list of the nine best duos in women's basketball this season by the NCAA. Duffy's averaging 16.7 points and 5.2 assists while Sjerven's pitching in 11.5 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game.
 
The Leathernecks
Western Illinois (6-7) looks to rebound after a pair of losses in the Compass Challenge in DeKalb, Illinois, prior to the holiday break. The tournament pits the four directional Illinois schools (Western, Eastern, Northern, Southern) against one another. Similar to in year's past, Western Illinois shoots plenty of threes and gets to the charity stripe. The Leathernecks rank just behind the Coyotes for 3-pointers made per game with 8.8 for 16th in the nation. They also draw fouls to get to the line, ranking third in the nation for free-throws attempted. Olivia Kaufmann paces the Leathernecks with 16.5 points and 3.2 assists per game in her senior season. Sophomore Evan Zars paces the Necks on the boards with 10.7 a game.

The Mastodons
Purdue Fort Wayne (4-9) begins its final Summit League season before departing for the Horizon League in 2020-21. Wednesday will be the Mastodons conference opener, last playing Dec. 22 at Butler. Purdue Fort Wayne is led by senior Hannah Albrecht with 15 points and 2.8 assists per game. Senior Sh'Toya Sanders leads the team on the boards with 8.8 rebounds a game. The Mastodons are second in the Summit for turnovers forced this year with 17.5, tallying 8.9 steals a game as a team. Shayla Sellars and Anna Lappenkuper are first and third, respectively, in the league for steals this season.
 
The Series
South Dakota leads both opponent series. The Coyotes hold a 14-3 edge against Western Illinois, winning the last four with regular season sweeps the last two years. South Dakota has won 13 in a row against Purdue Fort Wayne to lead the series 15-3.
 
One Last Thing
The Coyotes are 6-2 in Summit League openers, with this being the fifth year USD starts league play on the road. The Yotes opened up league action in Fargo last year.