SIOUX FALLS, S.D.—Four Coyotes scored in double-figures as South Dakota defeated Oral Roberts 89-66 in the opening round of the Summit League Tournament inside the Sanford Pentagon on Saturday afternoon.
South Dakota (17-5) advances to Monday's semifinal scheduled for 2:45 p.m. The second-seeded Coyotes play the winner of the North Dakota State-Denver match-up scheduled for 2:45 p.m. Sunday.
Senior
Chloe Lamb dropped 22 points while shooting 9-of-14 from the floor, including four buckets from deep. She set a South Dakota program record on Saturday by playing in her 124th consecutive game for the Coyotes. Lamb also moved up to 14th in USD program history for career scoring (1290) and sixth for career 3-pointers made.
She was joined by seniors
Hannah Sjerven and
Liv Korngable with 19 points apiece. Sjerven tallied her fourth-straight double-double with 19 points and 10 boards. She tied her season-high with four assists and also blocked a pair of shots. Korngable, the Summit's assists leader, dished out six on Saturday. It marks her third-straight game with six or more assists. She also recorded a career-best six steals in the game.
"This was a game of runs and our awareness and communication on the defensive end, especially in the fourth quarter was the difference in this game," said USD head coach
Dawn Plitzuweit. "Our young ladies played with a lot of poise and now we turn our attention to some adjustments we can make from this game, along with preparing for whichever team advances from tomorrow's game."
Freshman
Maddie Krull was the fourth Coyote in double-digits with 12 points. Other Coyotes scoring were sophomore
Macy Guebert with seven points, sophomore
Jeniah Ugofsky with four, freshman
Morgan Hansen added four and redshirt-sophomore
Allison Peplowski had a bucket.
Oral Roberts (6-15) was led by Summit Freshman of the Year Tierney Coleman's 21 points with four 3-pointers. Regan Schumacher added 11 points for the Golden Eagles, while all-Summit League guard Keni Jo Lippe was held to 10 or fewer points for the third-straight game against USD.
South Dakota outscored the Golden Eagles 44-12 in the paint on Saturday, a product of Oral Roberts knocking down 11 3-pointers in the game. USD had a double-digit lead at the half, but ORU climbed to within seven by knocking down six of those 3s in the third quarter.
The Coyotes used a 15-point run in the final frame – including a 3-pointer from Sjerven – to extend its lead to 24 points.
USD also capitalized with 22 points off 17 ORU turnovers.
South Dakota shot 49.3 percent (33-of-67) from the field while Oral Roberts finished at 36 percent (18-of-50) from the floor.
