VERMILLION, S.D. – The 2024-25 basketball season is here, and the South Dakota women's basketball program welcomes Saint Louis to the Sanford Coyote Sports Center Monday night.
 
The Coyotes and Billikens will play as a part of a women's and men's basketball doubleheader inside the SCSC. The USD women play at 5:30 p.m. with the USD men to follow at 8 p.m. The game is also a White Out Game, with the first 250 students receiving a rally towel.
 
HOW TO FOLLOW ALONG
The Coyotes and Billikens will be available to watch on Midco Sports and the Summit League Network powered by Midco Sports Plus. The game can also be found on KVHT 106.3 FM with the voice of Coyote women's basketball, Jerry Palleschi.
 
WE ARE THE COYOTES
• Monday, we tip off the 54th season of South Dakota women's basketball.
• This is the 13th season of NCAA Division I eligibility for the Coyotes.
• The Coyotes have punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament five times in 12 seasons at the Division I level.
• The Coyotes return two players who started 15 or more games from last season (Grace Larkins, Carley Duffney).
 
THE CARRIE EIGHMEY ERA
• The 2024-25 season is the first for Carrie Eighmey and her staff at South Dakota.
• Eighmey is the 12th head coach in program history.
• Eighmey spent the 2023-24 season at Idaho, recording a 15-16 record and a Big Sky Tournament appearance with the Vandals.
• In her 12 years as a head coach, Eighmey has compiled a 248-121 record (.672 winning percentage) and made three NCAA Division II Tournaments with Nebraska-Kearney.
 
HOME SWEET HOME
• The Coyotes open the season at home for the fourth consecutive season.
• Since the SCSC opened in 2016, the Coyotes are 7-1 in home openers.
• USD opened the 2023-24 season with an 85-57 win over Northern State in the SCSC.
• The Yotes are 37-16 in season openers and are 44-9 in home openers all-time.
 
INSIDE THE ST. LOUIS SERIES
• The Coyotes and Billikens meet for the second time in series history to open the 2024-25 season for both teams.
• USD won the lone previous meeting, a 71-67 victory at Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis in Nov. 2022.
• Two Coyote starters from the 2022 matchup are still with USD (Grace Larkins, Alexi Hempe).
• Grace Larkins led the Coyotes with 17 points and six rebounds.
• Carley Duffney had her first double-digit scoring effort against a Div. I opponent with 10 points in St. Louis.
• This is the first meeting between the Coyotes and Billikens in the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.
 
SCSC DOMINANCE
• The Coyotes are an impressive 475-165 (.742) at home since the DakotaDome opened in 1979, but that number has only improved since the opening of the Sanford Coyote Sports Center in 2016.
• Inside the SCSC, the Yotes are 98-17 (.852).
• USD has two undefeated seasons at home in eight seasons of playing in the SCSC (18-19, 21-22).
• In 37 seasons of basketball in the Dome, USD had two undefeated home slates (07-08, 14-15).
• The Coyotes have had one losing season at home in eight years of SCSC basketball (2022-23 season).
• The 100th win in the DakotaDome came in the second to last home game of the 1988-89 season, the 10th year of basketball in the Dome.
• USD needs just two wins this season (year nine of the SCSC) to reach triple digits in wins.
 
YOTES VS. THE ATLANTIC 10
• The Coyotes have seen three opponents from the Atlantic 10 conference since joining the Division I ranks.
• USD is 1-2 versus the conference.
• The Coyotes lone victory is against the Billikens in 2022.
• South Dakota has also faced Dayton (0-1) and Fordham (0-1) from the conference.
• USD has two rematches against A10 foes this season (St. Louis, Dayton).
• South Dakota and Dayton are scheduled for a showdown in Nashville, Tenn. later this month (Nov. 26).