The Game

South Dakota women's basketball hosts Kansas City at 2 p.m. Saturday inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center in Vermillion, South Dakota. It's USD's third annual Native American Heritage Game.
 
A live stream of the game will be available on the Summit League Network via the Midco Sports Plus app. A radio broadcast from the Coyote Sports Network with Jerry Palleschi will be available on KVHT 106.3.
 

The Coyotes

South Dakota (14-7, 3-3 Summit) held on to defeat Denver 78-70 on Thursday night. Junior guard Kendall Holmes scored a season-best 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting. Sophomore center Natalie Mazurek added 16, marking her fourth double-figure game in the last five. The Coyotes will look to string together two wins for the first time since December.
 
Saturday is the third annual Native American Heritage Day game and the first women's basketball game to take part. Senior forward Tori DePerry is a member of the Ojibwe tribe.
 

The Roos

Kansas City (10-11, 1-5) has a brand new roster under coach Dionnah Jackson-Durrett in year two. It features a deep bench that runs 10 deep most nights. Only five teams score more bench points than the Roos nationally.
 
Unlike Denver on Thursday, Kansas City does not rely on the 3. Instead, the Roos like to get to the bucket, draw fouls and get to the line. Kansas City shoots 20 free throws per game on average.
 

The Series

South Dakota leads the series 9-4 with the Coyotes winning all seven matchups since Kansas City rejoined the Summit League in 2020. Nicole Avila-Ambrosi scored a jumper in the paint with 5.2 seconds left to give USD a 74-73 win at Kansas City last year in the final game of the regular season.
 

Up Next

South Dakota is back on the road for a mid-week game at North Dakota. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. Thursday inside the Betty Englestad Arena in Grand Forks, North Dakota.