The Game
No. 20/15 South Dakota women's basketball hosts North Dakota State at 7 p.m. Thursday inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center in Vermillion. The game is Coach P's Pack Night and the program's annual Pink Game. The Coyotes will sport pink jerseys and four jerseys, with the numbers of 15, 20, 23 and 24, are being auctioned off for charity. Funds raised will be donated to the Dakota Hospital Foundation. Visit GoYotes.com/auctions to place your bids before 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
 
The Coyotes
No. 20/15 South Dakota (24-2, 13-0 Summit) is one win away from clinching a share of the Summit League regular season title. The Coyotes have won 23-straight home Summit games by an average margin of 27.5 points. Led by the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year semifinalist Ciara Duffy's 16.9, the Coyotes have six players averaging nine or more points. Junior center Hannah Sjerven (12.2) and junior guard Chloe Lamb (10.9) join her in double-figures, while senior forward Taylor Frederick, junior guard Monica Arens and senior guard Madison McKeever are all average nine points. Lamb scored a career-high 24 points to lead the Coyotes in a hard-fought 77-73 road win at Oral Roberts last Saturday. South Dakota is one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the country, having made the 13th most triples while shooting at the nation's second-best clip. If outside shots aren't falling, the Coyotes have attacked the rim and outscored Summit opponents by an average 21 points in the paint.
 
The Bison
North Dakota State (8-16, 5-7 Summit) has won five of eight since its first meeting with the Coyotes to clinch a spot in the Summit League Tournament. With four games left, the Bison are in a tight race between the No. 3 through No. 7 seeds. NDSU leading scorer Michelle Gaislerova had a monumental game in NDSU's win over Purdue Fort Wayne last week. Not only did she join the Bison's 1,000-point club, she made her 71st consecutive free throw to break the NCAA Division I record for consecutive free throws made. Freshman Ryan Cobbins scored a then-career high 15 points in the first meeting with the Coyotes with 13 fourth-quarter points. That quarter set her on a roll of eight-straight games in double-figures, including 22 in the Bison's win over in-state rival North Dakota.
 
The Series
A prominent Division II program, North Dakota State holds onto a 42-32 lead on the all-time series with South Dakota. The Coyotes have won 16 of 19 Division I meetings between the two teams, including the past seven in a row. South Dakota took round one in Fargo 80-36 back on Jan. 16.
 
One Last Thing
Coyote head coach Dawn Plitzuweit was one of 15 coaches named to the Werner Ladder Naismith Trophy Women's Coach of the Year late-season watch list on Wednesday. Click here to see the full list.