WACO, TX (USD) — One year ago, three South Dakota seniors made the decision to take advantage of the NCAA’s extra year of eligibility to accomplish a goal they had not yet reached: to win a game in the NCAA Tournament. Tonight, those seniors delivered. South Dakota got 20 points each from super seniors Chloe Lamb and Hannah Sjerven and led wire-to-wire in a dominant 75-61 win over Ole Miss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday afternoon inside the Ferrell Center.
It was the program’s first NCAA Tournament win in four tries. South Dakota has qualified for five Big Dances in 10 seasons of eligibility. The program’s last tournament win came in 2008 when the team was the Division II national runner-up. South Dakota (28-5, 17-1) added 13 points from second-year freshman Maddie Krull, fellow super-senior Liv Korngable had 10 and second-year freshman Kyah Watson chipped in eight. The Coyotes also got 13 solid minutes and four points off the bench from Allison Peplowski.
“Our effort and determination was outstanding from start to finish and this is such a special day for our program,” said USD head coach Dawn Plitzuweit. “This was such a fun day for all of Coyote Nation and to make history and advance to the second round of March Madness is so great for the University of South Dakota. We will now work to prepare and get recovered for our next game on Sunday.”
Ole Miss (23-9, 10-6), with the second-ranked scoring defense in the SEC, was unable to slow the Coyotes’ hot shooting or capitalize off turnovers. Friday was the first time South Dakota’s had four players in double-figures in an NCAA Tournament game and the Coyotes’ 75 points was also a program high in the NCAA Tournament. South Dakota is the fourth Summit League team to win an NCAA Tournament game all-time. South Dakota, the No. 10 seed in the Wichita Region, will face second-seeded Baylor in a second-round contest Sunday at a time yet to be announced.
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