ST. PAUL, Minn.—South Dakota sixth-year senior
Hannah Sjerven tallied 26 points to lead the Coyotes to a 73-46 road win at St. Thomas inside Schoenecker Arena.
It marked the penultimate conference road game for the Coyotes (21-5, 14-1), who clinched a top-two seed in the upcoming Summit League Tournament with tonight's win.
"We played really well in stretches but we have to work to play at that level consistently from start to finish," said USD head coach
Dawn Plitzuweit. "It was great to see a ton of red in the stands here in Minnesota as we had a lot of Yote fans cheering us on tonight!"
Sjerven tallied 26 points on 11-of-16 shooting from the floor. She added eight boards, two steals and two blocked shots. Sjerven also became South Dakota's all-time career blocked shots leader in the fourth quarter.
Freshman
Grace Larkins tied her career-high 15 points for the third time this season and second-straight game. She was 6-of-11 from the field and also grabbed six boards.
Fifth-year seniors
Liv Korngable and
Chloe Lamb joined them in double-figure scoring. Korngable finished with 14 points and enters Saturday's game six shy of 1,000 career points. Lamb tallied 13 points and a pair of assists.
St. Thomas (6-19, 3-12) was led by Jade Hill's 14 points and Erin Norling's 11.
South Dakota jumped out to a 16-4 lead in the first quarter, scoring half their points off seven Tommie turnovers. Norling scored eight of her 11 points in the second quarter as the Tommies closed the gap to six, 31-25, at the half. Sjerven had 16 points in the first half with eight in each quarter.
The Coyotes outscored the Tommies by 21 in the second half to extend the lead and win 73-46. Korngable dropped 12 of her 14 points in the final two frames.
South Dakota shot 45.2 percent (28-of-62) from the field and made 11-of-14 (78.6 percent) from the line. St. Thomas scored at a 31.1 percent (14-of-45) clip from the floor and made 13-of-23 (56.5 percent) from the stripe.
The Coyotes outscored the Tommies 17-4 on points-off turnovers and 12-1 on second-chance points.
South Dakota's road trip continues Saturday at Western Illinois. The Coyotes tip-off at 2 p.m. inside Western Hall in Macomb, Illinois.
