League newcomer St. Thomas makes first trip to Vermillion

The Game

South Dakota women's basketball hosts St. Thomas for a game at 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center in Vermillion.

The game will be televised by Midco Sports with commentary from Jay Elsen and Brad Newitt. That broadcast will also be available for streaming on espn+ and Midco Sports Plus (subscription required). A free web stream will also be available right here on GoYotes.com. Fans can tune into the game on the Coyote Sports Network with Carter Woodiel, carried on KVHT 106.3 FM in Yankton/Vermillion or by using The Varsity Network app.

The Coyotes

South Dakota (15-4, 8-0) is receiving votes in the AP Top 25 for the first time since the preseason. To get there, the Coyotes have won 13-straight games for the nation's longest winning streak. Senior guard Chloe Lamb continues to lead the squad with 15.4 points per game. Hannah Sjerven averages 13.3 points to go with a team-high 6.8 boards. Liv Korngable joins them in double-figures with 12.3 points and a team-best 3.6 assists per contest. Second-year freshmen Maddie Krull and Kyah Watson have averaged eight points in the last 10 games to balance out the starting five. South Dakota's defense ranks 12th in the nation, allowing just 53.1 points per game overall this season. In the last five games the Coyote defense has given up just 45 points per contest.

The Tommies

St. Thomas (6-11, 3-4) play their third road game in six days on Saturday. The Tommies are in their first year of the transition to NCAA Division I, following years of success in NCAA Division III and the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Longtime head coach Ruth Sinn owned an average record of 27-4 in the program's last nine full seasons of Division III with three Finals Four appearances between 2012-19. St. Thomas is the first institution in history to move its athletic program directly from Division III to Division I. Wayne State graduate transfer Erin Norling is leading this year's squad with 13.8 points per game and 5.1 rebounds per game. Freshman Jade Hill, the younger sister of WNBA player Tayler Hill, joins her in double-figures with 12.5 points per game.

The Series

This marks the first-ever meeting between South Dakota and league newcomer St. Thomas.

One Last Thing

Points off turnovers will be a statistic to watch. The Coyotes have scored 90 points off 67 opponent turnovers in the last three games. Thursday night, USD's 16-0 run in the third quarter was spurred by 10 forced turnovers on the defensive end.