The Game

South Dakota plays host to North Dakota State for a game at 7 p.m. Friday inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center in Vermillion, S.D., to open Summit League play.
 
A live stream of the game will be available on the Summit League Network available via the Midco Sports Plus app. A radio broadcast from the Coyote Sports Network with Jerry Palleschi will be available on KVTK 101.5 FM/1570 AM.
 

The Coyotes

South Dakota (10-3) enters Summit League play to the tune of a seven-game winning streak. The Coyotes are starting conference action at the top of the standings for the first time since the 2019-20 season. Looking for one more stat to round it out? South Dakota has won nine-straight Summit League openers and the Coyotes are 10-2 all-time in opening Summit play.
 
Preseason all-Summit pick Grace Larkins enters the league slate leading the Summit in scoring and assists. She needs 30 points to surpass 1,000 in her career. Joining her in double-figure scoring to this point are a pair of transfers in junior Kendall Holmes (DePaul) and senior Tori DePerry (Saginaw Valley State).
 

The Bison

North Dakota State (5-6) was picked second in the Summit League preseason poll, the highest since the Bison joined the league in 2007-08, and was the only team with two players picked to the preseason all-Summit first team. Senior Heaven Hamling and sophomore Elle Evans are both averaging 12 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.
 
The Bison were streak-snappers a year ago, ending South Dakota's streak of 43 consecutive home wins against Summit League teams. The stretch lasted from 2017 to 2023 and broke the Summit League record.
 

The Series

North Dakota State leads the all-time series 44-38. The Bison swept the season series a year ago, ending USD's 13-game streak in the series history.
 

Up Next

South Dakota travels to Omaha for a New Year's Eve game at 2 p.m. Sunday inside Baxter Arena in Omaha, Nebraska.