Game Story
Good teams win, great teams cover. Well, at least that’s what the Coyotes did today by winning 89-66 (I predicted them winning by 20-25 points). Enough about me though, let’s get to the game. South Dakota advances with a convincing win over Oral Roberts and will await the winner of North Dakota State and Denver tomorrow afternoon.
The game started off well for Oral Roberts. A hot start from the three-point line saw them tied up with South Dakota 9-9 early in the first quarter. Oral Roberts would get into some foul trouble though, racking up four fouls early on. USD had a 20-13 lead as the quarter was ending but a beautiful euro-step move by Freshman of the Year Tierney Coleman cut the deficit to five and Oral Roberts only trailed 20-15 after the first quarter.
Chloe Lamb of South Dakota started the second quarter with a deep three followed by a beautiful up-and-under move on the following possession to give the Yotes a 25-15 lead, forcing Coach Cussin to use a timeout. Most of the rest of the quarter was back and forth basketball. Tyaija Coleman knocked down a couple of free throws to bring the score to 41-31, but Macy Guebert hit a layup as time expired to give USD a 43-31 lead going into halftime.
Oral Roberts started the third quarter on fire from the three-point line. Ariel Walker and Tierney Coleman kept the Golden Eagles within striking distance, but USD seemed to have an answer every time. The Yotes led 58-48 before Coleman hit yet another three point shot, cutting the Coyotes lead to seven, 58-51. A quick jump shot by Liv Corngable brought the lead back up to nine, but Oral Roberts responded with a couple of possessions that led to four made free throws; the Coyotes lead was down to five. They would never look back. While it was a fun quarter to watch both Tierney Coleman and Chloe Lamb go back and forth, Oral Roberts didn’t score a two-point bucket until 1:17 left. USD led 66-57 after three.
Oral Roberts definitely started to look a little tired in the fourth quarter and it showed. USD maintained their lead until the media timeout. Everything started clicking even more for USD after that timeout as buckets by Maddie Krull, Liv Korngable, and Hannah Sjerven, and free throws by Macy Guebert gave the Yotes a quick 11-0 run and increased their lead to 87-63.The Coyotes end up winning 89-66, finishing the game on a 17-4 run.
The stat that stood out to me the most was points in the paint. South Dakota outscored Oral Roberts 44-12 in that category. I asked Coach Plitzuweit about that and if she saw that as an area where the Coyotes could take advantage of Oral Roberts. She said, “The mindset was to attack the paint. I thought we did a good job of that, but that led to Oral Roberts getting some good looks from the three point line.” She’s right. Oral Roberts went 11-20 from beyond the arc today (55%), including 4-6 from Tierney Coleman.
Speaking of the Freshman of the Year, I asked Tierney what she thought of her successful season. She was proud of herself this year. “I just played my game. I had a lot of confidence in my coaches and myself.” I really look forward to seeing her continue to grow. She will be a lot of fun to watch.
How’d I do in my prediction?
Well, Oral Roberts did get off to a quick start, but South Dakota didn’t really get hot from beyond the arc. Hannah dominated the glass, grabbing a game-high 10 rebounds. Finally, USD won by 23, which was within my predicted amount!
Player Notes
South Dakota
Four Coyotes ended with double figure scoring: Chloe Lamb (22 points), Liv Korngable (19 points points), Hannah Sjerven (19 points), Maddie Krull (12 points).
Oral Roberts
Tierney Coleman ended with 21 points and five rebounds; Regan Schumacher ended with 11 points and seven rebounds.
Final Game Stats
South Dakota shot 33-67 from the field (49.3%) and Oral Roberts shot 18-50 (36%)
Oral Roberts shot 11-20 from three (55%) and South Dakota shot 7-20 (35%)
South Dakota outscored Oral Roberts 44-12 in the paint.