LOS ANGELES—Junior guard
Alexi Hempe buried a game-tying three-pointer at the end of regulation and South Dakota went on to outscore Loyola Marymount by five in overtime to win Sunday's game 78-73 inside Gersten Pavilion.
South Dakota (6-3) will ride its three-game winning streak into finals week. The Coyotes host Dickinson State inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center next Sunday.
Junior guard
Grace Larkins led the Coyotes with 25 points, five rebounds, five steals and three assists. It was the first time a Coyote had recorded five steals in a game since Larkins did so last February. Hempe recorded her second-straight double-figure game with 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting. Senior forward
Tori DePerry added 10 points.
LMU (2-5) was led by Alexis Mark's second-straight 20-point effort. She finished with 20 points on 6-of-13 shooting. Guard Nicole Rodriguez joined her in double-figures with 13 points.
The game was neck-and-neck throughout with neither team building a double-digit lead at any point in the contest. There were 13 tie-ups and 10 lead changes in the game. South Dakota's largest lead of the game was 26-17 after a layup by sophomore forward
Carley Duffney in the second quarter.
LMU went on a 7-1 run to end the half and close the Coyotes lead to 27-24 at the break.
The Lions outscored the Coyotes by seven in the third quarter and started the fourth on a 6-2 run, giving LMU its largest lead of the game, 50-42, with seven minutes to play in the fourth.
That's when Larkins took over the game. She first knocked down a wide-open 3-pointer. Then over a span of two minutes of game time Larkins had three layups including a pair of steal-and-scores that gave the Coyotes the lead back, 54-52. Larkins scored 12 points and recorded three of her five steals in the final seven minutes of the fourth.
The two teams traded buckets and free throws over the next three minutes. LMU led 63-60 with 14 seconds remaining in regulation and the Coyotes advanced the ball to the front court. Junior guard
Nicole Avila-Ambrosi found Hempe, who knocked down the 3-pointer from the left wing to tie the game with nine seconds remaining.
Freshman guard
Olivia Kieffer stepped up in the overtime period, scoring all seven of her points in the frame. She had an old-fashioned 3-point play and went 5-for-5 from the stripe. South Dakota outscored LMU 15-10 in the overtime period for a final score of 78-73.
South Dakota shot 45.6 percent (26-of-57) from the floor and made 78.6 percent (22-of-28) from the free-throw line.
