South Dakota Hits The Road For A Summit League Reality Check

It's been the most impressive stretch of basketball South Dakota has played all year - five wins in their last six Summit League games, including three straight victories to start the second half against teams they lost to the first time around.

That recent success has led to a new found confidence for head coach Amy Williams' team, although see knows her team now needs to win some games on the road to keep the good times going:

Last week, the Coyotes ever improving defense was on display, first against a Fort Wayne team that had beaten USD by 18 last month in Indiana on the strength of 13 3-pointers.

On their home floor, the Coyotes won by 13, limiting the Mastodons to just three long range baskets on 27 attempts.

Coach Williams says a combination of factors helped keep IPFW frustrated from behind the arc:

Two days later, USD avenged a 21-point loss to the Summit League's second place team IUPUI.

Again it was defense getting the job for for the Coyotes, limiting the Jaguars to 27 percent second half shooting, winning by 18 despite shooting just 38 percent themselves.

USD did get a bit of a scare early when IUPUI's 3-point specialist Nicole Rogers hit her first two from behind the arc, giving IUPUI a short lived eight point lead:

This week finds the Coyotes back on the road for the final time in the Summit League regular season.  Conference games away from Vermillion have been an adventure for USD, five losses in six tries, by an average of nearly 13 points a game.

The road trip starts in Omaha Thursday, against a Maverick team the Coyotes beat by 24 in the DakotaDome last month.

It's an Omaha team that boasts a lot of size, but that didn't stop Lisa Loeffler, who scored 17 in the first half to pace USD in the game one win:

Tipoff is Thursday at 7:00pm in Omaha.