There will be a new team representing the Summit League in the NCAA women’s basketball tourney and it could be South Dakota.
.—Polly Harrington made her first seven shots, Nicole Seekamp sank 13 free throws and Bridget Arens contributed 12 points off the bench as South Dakota beat top-seeded South Dakota State, 72-58, in a Summit League Tournament semifinal game at Sioux Falls Arena.
The Coyotes (18-13), who hit a last-second 3-pointer Sunday to reach the semifinal round, will take on sixth-seeded Denver (9-22) in Tuesday’s championship game. ESPNU will televise the game live starting at 1 p.m.
Seekamp led all scorers with 19 points and had three assists and four steals. That followed a 26-point performance in an opening round win against Western Illinois. Harrington had 18 points and nine rebounds. Point guard Tia Hemiller had eight points, nine rebounds, four assists and three steals.
South Dakota State, which had won the previous five Summit League Tournaments, got 18 points from Megan Waytashek and 12 points from Steph Paluch. Kerri Young added eight points off the bench.
The Coyotes led from start to finish, jumping out to a 9-2 lead and taking a 37-25 lead into halftime. It was 54-31 USD with 12 minutes to go.
South Dakota State closed within 11 points in five minutes, but Seekamp and Kelly Stewart answered the bell with a pair of free throws each and Seekamp hit a jumper that made it 62-45 with 5:18 remaining. Free-throw shooting down the stretch sealed the deal.
Both teams shot well from the line, but not so great from the field. USD made 29 of 34 free throws compared to 21 of 28 for SDSU. The Coyotes, who made 12 three-pointers a day ago, missed their first 10 Monday and finished 1 of 13 from beyond the arc. The Jacks were 3 of 19 from long range.
