VERMILLION, S.D.—Five Coyotes scored in double-figures in South Dakota's 83-35 victory over Briar Cliff on Thursday night inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.
Thursday was a final tune-up for South Dakota (2-2) ahead of three Power 5 games on consecutive games next week in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The game was an exhibition for Briar Cliff (4-2, 2-0 GPAC), who upset No. 9 Concordia last Saturday in a conference game front of their home crowd.
"Tonight was a great opportunity for us to grow and develop as a team and work on fine tuning some things on both sides of the ball," said USD head coach
Dawn Plitzuweit. "We are very fortunate to be a part of one of the most prestigious tournaments in women's basketball next week in the U.S. Virgin Islands so we will now work to prepare for a very challenging slate in that event."
Fifth-year senior guard
Chloe Lamb dropped 15 first-half points to lead the scoring contingent. She was 6-of-10 from the field. Sixth-year senior
Hannah Sjerven added 10 points and eight boards. Sjerven tied Stacy (Kracht) Huber for 16th on USD's all-time scoring list Thursday night.
The trio of second-year freshman
Maddie Krull, junior
Macy Guebert and freshman
Grace Larkins tallied double-figure games for the first time this season.
Krull knocked down 4-of-5 from the field with three triples for 13 points. She added four assists, three rebounds, two steals and a pair of blocks to her line. Guebert finished with 12 points, knocking down three triples. Larkins scored 10 points for her first career double-figure game. She also finished with five steals for the second-straight game.
Senior
Regan Sankey earned her first start on Thursday night. She finished with eight points, eight boards and three assists. Fourth-year junior
Aspen Williston came off the bench and racked up seven points in six minutes.
South Dakota's defense held Briar Cliff scoreless for the first 6:30 of the game. The Coyotes led the Chargers 42-15 at the halftime horn before stretching it out to 83-35 for the game.
The Coyotes shot 45.6 percent (31-of-68) from the field and made 12-of-14 (85.7 percent) from the line. Briar Cliff was held to just 22.2 percent (12-of-54) from the floor. The Coyotes capitalized on points in the paint by outscoring the Chargers 42-10.
South Dakota travels to the U.S. Virgin Islands next week for three games in the Paradise Jam tournament held on the island of St. Thomas. The Coyotes tip-off against Northwestern at 4:45 p.m. Central on Thanksgiving Day.
