OMAHA, NB (KELO.com) — Senior Madison McKeever scored her 1,000th career point, USD head coach Dawn Plitzuweit tallied win No. 100 at USD and the Coyotes surpassed 20 wins for the sixth-straight season in USD’s 71-39 victory over Omaha on Wednesday night inside Baxter Arena.
It was also the first time since 2014 that South Dakota (20-2, 9-0 Summit) did not make a 3-pointer. Instead, the Coyotes dominated Omaha (6-15, 1-7) in the paint 50-16.
“Tonight we did a great job of making adjustments and finding different ways to attack the lane on the offensive end,” said Plitzuweit. “It was awesome to see Madison score her 1,000th point. It is a fantastic accomplishment that has taken a lot of hard work and consistency during her career to reach that mark.
“Next up, we have to prepare for a tough Denver team on the road in Sunday.”
South Dakota was led by senior forward Taylor Frederick off the bench with 20 points. Frederick recorded her season-high on 8-of-12 shooting with five boards. She scored 15 of her points in the second half.
Joining Frederick in double-figures were senior guard Ciara Duffy with 14 points and junior center Hannah Sjerven with 10 points and eight boards.
Omaha center Mariah Murdie led the Mavericks with 20 points. She scored 17 of her points in the first half – with Murdie having 17 of Omaha’s 19 points at the break.
The Mavericks led for the first five minutes of the game until a driving layup from McKeever gave USD an 8-6 lead. The Coyotes started off the second quarter on an 11-2 run, with seven points from Arens, to extend that lead to 15 points. UNO would not get within single-digits for the remainder of the contest.
McKeever scored her 1,000th point on a driving layup to start the fourth quarter.
Even without outside shots falling, South Dakota capitalized on offensive boards – scoring 11 points on 12 offensive rebounds. USD also had 22 points off 25 Maverick turnovers.
The Coyotes finished at 42.9 percent (27-of-63) from the field, while the Mavericks shot 28.8 percent (15-of-52) from the floor. UNO was 2-of-18 (11.1 percent) from behind the arc.
Plitzuweit reaches 100 victories in 124 games to become the fastest coach to achieve the feat at a Summit League school. She also reached 100 wins in fewer games than it took Pat Summitt at Tennessee (131), Kim Mulkey at Baylor (136), Taylor VanDerveer at Stanford (137), Muffet McGraw at Notre Dame (150) or Geno Auriemma at UConn (153).
The Coyotes return to action at Denver on Sunday at 2 p.m. in Colorado.
