South Dakota hosts Denver at 7 p.m. Thursday inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center in Vermillion, S.D.
The Game
We have a rematch between the Coyotes and the only Summit team to hand them a loss this season, the Pioneers. South Dakota has won 10 in a row since that first meeting back on January 3rd. The Coyotes also boast a 40-3 record inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center over the past three seasons. Meanwhile, Denver has struggled on the road with its only wins outside the state of Colorado coming at Omaha and North Dakota State. The Pioneers have won two in a row and have had the last eight days off to prepare for South Dakota. A win for the Coyotes on Thursday will clinch a top-two seed at the Summit League Tournament, while the Pioneers are battling out seeding with Western Illinois and Oral Roberts in the middle of the pack.
The Coyotes
No. 23/23 South Dakota (23-3, 11-1 Summit) has made plenty of history this season, but we are not done yet! The Coyotes are in both the Associated Press Top 25 and the USA Today Coaches polls for the second-straight week, while moving to the top of the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major poll this week. USD head coach
Dawn Plitzuweit is one win away from tying Ryun Williams for the fourth-most wins at South Dakota, although she's angling to do so in one less season. South Dakota junior guard
Ciara Duffy leads the team in scoring with 15 points per game, while senior guard
Allison Arens and sophomore center
Hannah Sjerven also average double-digits. Arens is closing in on USD's top-10 career scoring charts, standing five points away from tying for 10th.
The Pioneers
Denver (14-11, 7-5 Summit) is responsible for South Dakota's only Summit League loss in the last 26 games, although the Pioneers needed to score more than 100 to get there (final score of 104-99). Lucky number 11 for the Pioneers, who are the 11th-highest scoring team in the country. Denver also ranks 11th nationally for threes made and blocked shots. Pioneer guard Lauren Loven is the best 3-point shooter in the nation, ranking third in both threes made (92) and percentage (47.2). Five Denver players average double figures and Loven isn't even the team's top scorer. Madison Nelson averages 15.5 to Loven's 14.9. Meanwhile, Samantha Romanowski is busy setting up the shooters with the nation's seventh-most assists. She averages more than six per game.
The Series
South Dakota leads the all-time series with Denver 11-3 and has won all five meetings in Vermillion. In the first meeting between the teams, DU's Lauren Loven knocked down six triples and scored 32 points while Jasmine Jeffcoat had a career day with 20 points (10 more than she's scored in any other game this season).
One Last Thing
The Coyotes are the Summit's top defense in an offensive-minded league. Five teams rank in the NCAA's top-50 scoring offenses, but South Dakota went on a five-game streak of holding league foes to 50 or fewer points. It was the first time the feat had been accomplished since 1973. During that stretch, South Dakota shut out Omaha 29-0 in the first quarter. USD became the 10th NCAA Division I team to shut out an opponent in a quarter this season and 29 points was the second-largest shutout. USD's defense will be challenged this week as they face the league's top two offenses back-to-back.
