SIOUX FALLS, S.D.—
Chloe Lamb may have one-upped herself while playing in her 158th career game. The Summit League Player of the Year scored a career-high 33 points on 12-of-16 shooting in powering South Dakota back to the Summit League Tournament championship game with an 81-67 win against Kansas City Monday inside the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center.
South Dakota (26-5) has advanced to the title game for the fifth consecutive season and for the ninth time in 10 tries. The Coyotes will face South Dakota State at 1 p.m. Tuesday in a nationally televised contest on ESPNU. The two teams were co-champions during the regular season with identical 17-1 records. This is the seventh time in 10 years the two will meet for the title.
"Our young ladies played with great toughness and tenacity today and we are excited for the opportunity to play again tomorrow afternoon!" said USD head coach
Dawn Plitzuweit.
Lamb and fellow first-team all-Summit honoree
Hannah Sjerven combined to make the first 10 shots they took. Add in the other member of the "big three"
Liv Korngable and the trio made 13 of their first 14 shots and had 33 points less than 16 minutes into the contest. The result was an early 37-25 advantage.
Kansas City (23-8) was led by its own pair of first team picks in Naomie Alnatas (21) and Brooklyn McDavid (16), while Mandy Willems added 14. Kansas City had seven of their 12 offensive boards in the first half to stay in the game. The lead was 41-35 at halftime despite USD shooting a torrid 61 percent (16-of-26). Alnatas had 12 points by the break and Willems chipped in eight.
But Lamb was relentless. Her third 3 came shortly after halftime and her first miss didn't come until the 7:20 mark of the third quarter. By that point, she was 8-for-8 with three 3-pointers and 21 points. She tacked on nine more points in the fourth quarter to stop any further resistance from the Roos.
Sjerven had 24 points on 8-of-11 shooting and totaled nine rebounds in 25 minutes of work. It marked her fourth 20-point performance in the last six games. Korngable finished with 10 points, five assists and a steal. This afternoon was her 21st career game with five or more assists.
Lamb entered the top-10 of the Summit's all-time scoring list with 1,826 points. She is the third-leading scorer in Coyote history. Monday was her sixth career game with five 3-pointers. Lamb's 33 points was the most by a Coyote at the Summit League Tournament in 10 years (26 games).
