The Game

South Dakota opens play at the 2023 Battle 4 Atlantis presented by Bad Boy Mowers against DePaul. The game is set for 6:30 p.m. (Central) Saturday in the Atlantis Resort's Imperial Arena in the Bahamas.
 
A live stream of the game will be provided by FloHoops with commentary by Lexi Ayala and Evan Stockton. A radio broadcast from the Coyote Sports Network with Jerry Palleschi will also be available on KVHT 106.3.
 

The Coyotes

South Dakota (2-1) is playing in the Caribbean for the fourth time in seven seasons but making its first trip to the Bahamas.
 
The Coyotes were picked third in the preseason Summit League poll with junior Grace Larkins and sophomore Carley Duffney named to the preseason all-league teams. Larkins was also named to the preseason watch list for the Becky Hammon Award. One of the key talking points this offseason has been adding depth behind Larkins. The Coyotes put six players in double-figures in the scoring column for game one and have had three different leading scorers through three games. Senior graduate transfer Tori DePerry has provided a spark off the bench at forward. She's been aggressive on the boards and drawn contact at the rim. She's tied with Larkins as USD's leading scorer this season with 13 points per game, while ranking 24th in the nation for free-throws made.
 

The Blue Demons

DePaul (2-1) looks like a brand new squad from a year ago with only five returning players back from that squad. Six players transferred out during the offseason, including current Coyote Kendall Holmes.
 
The Blue Devils played an exhibition at Iowa's Kinnick Stadium to set a women's basketball attendance record of 55,646 back in October. DePaul went on to win their first two regular season games by an average of 35 points per game before falling at No. 17 Louisville last Sunday. Katlyn Gilbert recorded the first triple-double in the NCAA this season when she tallied 12 points, 10 rebounds and 10 steals against Stonehill. She leads the Big East in steals per game with 3.67. DePaul also has two of the top-four scorers in the Big East this season with Kate Clark's 20.7 ranking second and Anaya Peoples' 19.7 ranking fourth. Peoples was selected to the preseason all-Big East team.
 

The Series

This is the first meeting between South Dakota and DePaul in program history.
 

Up Next

It's a bracket-style tournament with winners playing winners and losers playing losers in the next round. The Coyotes will face either Michigan or Middle Tennessee State in the next round. If South Dakota wins, the team will play at 1:30 p.m. (Central) on Sunday. If USD loses, the team will play at 6:30 p.m. (Central) Sunday.