South Dakota senior guard Nicole Seekamp forced Northern Iowa forward Amber Sorenson into taking an off-balance 3-pointer as the clock expired, giving the Coyotes a 51-50 win over the Panthers in the WNIT Round of 16 at the DakotaDome Thursday night.
South Dakota (29-6) used its home-court advantage, outscoring Northern Iowa (24-11) by one in the fourth quarter to advance to the quarterfinals of the WNIT. The Coyotes will host the winner of Friday’s Saint Louis vs. Western Kentucky game at 7 p.m. Sunday in the DakotaDome.
The game featured three ties and 14 lead changes. The Coyotes took the lead for the final time with a jumper by senior guard Tia Hemiller with 3:19 remaining. Both senior guard Kelly Stewart and senior center Margaret McCloud made a free throw to increase USD’s lead to 51-48 with under a minute to play.
Northern Iowa called a timeout following McCloud’s made free throw and advanced the ball. UNI guard Stephanie Davison made a jumper in the paint to close the gap to one.
The Coyotes missed a chance to extend the lead to three with nine seconds left, but held on defensively by not allowing a last-second shot to go in.
Seekamp was the only Coyote to score in double figures with 16 points, six assists and four rebounds. The Renmark, South Australia, native became the Summit League’s all-time assists leader Thursday with 605 for her career. She also grabbed her 500th rebound in the game.
Northern Iowa was led by forward Jen Keitel’s game-high 19 points and six rebounds. Keitel made 9-of-14 from the field. Davison added 13 and guard Madison Weekly had nine.
