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Despite a strong day on the offensive boards, shooting woes sunk the South Dakota women’s basketball team to a 60-46 loss in its season opener against Cleveland State.
Nicole Seekamp (Renmark, South Australia) led the Coyotes (0-1) with 19 points, while Polly Harrington (Kansas City, Mo.) had 10 second half points to finish with 15. Harrington also led the Yotes with eight rebounds.
The Coyotes grabbed 17 offensive rebounds in the game, but had trouble getting things going offensively. USD shot 33 percent from the field, 3-for-21 behind the three point arc and had 21 turnovers in the game.
Defensively, USD had 12 steals and forced Cleveland State (1-0) into 20 turnovers. The Coyotes also held the Vikings off the boards, ending the game with nine more total rebounds than CSU did, 38-29.
Cleveland State’s Shalonda Winton had 22 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Viking effort. She shot 10-11 from the free-throw line, which helped Cleveland State shoot 18-20 as a team from that spot.
South Dakota led by as many as six with 2:06 left in the first, and entered halftime tied at 21. USD shot 37.5 percent in the opening half with Seekamp leading the way with 10 points.
Despite not shooting as well in the second half (9-for-30), the Coyotes cut down on the turnovers to seven, which was half of their first half total.
South Dakota will next travel to Drake on Sunday for a 2 p.m. tipoff in the Knapp Center.
Courtesy: Jarrod Tell, USD
