Tia Hemiller and Nicole Seekamp both tallied 15 points and seven rebounds as the South Dakota women’s basketball team held off Fort Wayne to win 73-72 in the Gates Sports Center on Thursday night.
The win is South Dakota’s 12th in its last 14 games and keeps the Coyotes on top of the Summit League standings.
South Dakota (15-4, 5-1) scored seven unanswered points during a 1:31 stretch in the final three minutes to take control of a game that saw four lead changes and four ties in the final six minutes. Hemiller hit a jumper to tie the game at 66 with 2:04 remaining, and Seekamp hit the go-ahead 3-pointer on the next possession to make it 69-66 with 1:29 to go. Seekamp then assisted a basket by Margaret McCloud on the next USD possession to make it 71-66 with 49 seconds left.
After Fort Wayne’s (7-12, 1-5) Haley Seibert ended the run with a 3-pointer to make it 71-69 with 41 seconds to go, Hemiller added the game-deciding points on a jumper with 16 seconds left. Kamilah Carter would tally Fort Wayne’s final points on a 3-pointer with nine seconds remaining.
Lisa Loeffler added 10 points, five rebounds and three assists to the Coyote effort, while Raeshel Contreras scored nine points and tallied three assists. McCloud tallied eight points while Hemiller led USD in assists with four.
