BROOKINGS – The South Dakota Coyotes spoiled the South Dakota State women’s basketball team’s senior day on Saturday.

It was the second time this season that the Jackrabbits lost to USD as they fell to the Coyotes 83-48 on Jan. 19th. Saturday’s game was a lot closer, but the Jackrabbits could not get over the hump falling 77-67. The Jacks led 8-4 midway through the first quarter, but that would be their final lead of the day.

No. 20 USD led 36-26 at halftime and the Jacks came out in the second half and cut the lead down to five a minute and a half into the third quarter. That would be as close as they would get though as the Coyotes continued to answer every punch they threw.

“That second half [USD] just made every shot they needed to make. I thought we played certainly hard enough and at times well enough, maybe just a little bit loose on offense and defense. Just few possessions here or there I thought we could do different. They just played really solid throughout. Played like a very experienced team out there,” SDSU head coach Aaron Johnston said.

He added that he was happy that the game was closer, but was still upset with the loss.

“… I’m disappointed we lost. There’s nothing about me that sits here right now and says ‘oh good game.’ I’m really disappointed we lost. For our fans, team, seniors, it was a big day. But I still feel like the team played well. Hard enough to win, competitive enough to win, just didn’t play well enough to win.”

USD (26-2, 15-0) was led by senior Chloe Lamb who had 22 points. She was 9-13 from the field and 4-7 from three. Madison McKeever had 19 points. Ciara Duffy had 17 points, eight assists and four rebounds. Taylor Frederick had 10 points off of the bench.

Senior Tagyn Larson led SDSU (20-9, 12-3) with 20 points, nine rebounds and four assists. Tori Nelson had 12 points and four rebounds. Paiton Burckhard had 11 points and five rebounds. Rylie Cascio Jensen had nine points and four assists.

The Jacks outrebounded the Coyotes 29-22. They had 14 turnovers and USD had nine. SDSU shot 48.1% from the field and were 4-16 from three. USD was 58.3% from the field and 7-20 from three.

With the win, the Coyotes clinched the regular season title in the Summit League. It was the fourth time in the last six seasons that they accomplished that feat. SDSU and USD have met in the Summit League Championship game in five of the past seven seasons. It’s shaping up for them to meet again this year and Johnston said he thinks the Jacks have a good chance of beating USD in the season’s third match up.

“We’re going to have to find a way to slow them down offensively. It really wasn’t pace that got us, it was just execution. … We’re going to have to find a way to be more consistent offensively. We just had a couple stretches where, two or three minutes that were just not quality shots. Tough shots and if you can make some of those you can hang in there. It’s hard to win a game with tough shots. Have to be better on offense,” Johnston said.

SDSU will finish the regular season on Thursday when they play North Dakota State in Fargo at 5 p.m.

SOUTH DAKOTA 77, SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 67 

South Dakota (26-2, 15-0)

Chloe Lamb 9-13 0-0 22, Madison McKeever 5-8 7-10 19, Ciara Duffy 7-13 2-2 17, Taylor Frederick 4-7 2-2 10, Hanna Sjerven 3-5 1-2 7, Monica Arens 0-1 2-2 2, Liv Korngable 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-48 14-18 77.

South Dakota State (20-9, 12-3)

Tagyn Larson 7-12 3-4 18, Tori Nelson 5-10 2-3 12, Paiton Burckhard 4-12 11, Rylie Cascio Jensen 3-6 2-2 9, Sydney Stapleton 2-3 2-2 6, Tylee Irwin 2-4 0-0 5, Lindsey Theuninck 2-5 0-0 4, Megan Bultsma 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 26-54 11-13 67.

USD   17 18 17 25 – 77

SDSU 14 12 19 22 – 67

3-point field goals – USD 7-20 (McKeever 2-3, Lamb 4-7, Duffy 1-6, Arens 0-1, Frederick 0-2), SDSU 4-16 (Irwin 1-1, Cascio Jensen 1-2, Burckhard 1-3, Larson 1-4, Stapleton 0-1, Theuninck 0-2, Nelson 0-3). Rebounds – USD 22 (Sjerven 7), SDSU 29 (Larson 9). Assists – USD 15 (Duffy 8), SDSU 19 (Irwin 5). Steals – USD 10 (Lamb, McKeever, Duffy, Frederick 2), SDSU 6 (Cascio Jensen 3). Blocks – USD 3 (Sjerven 2), SDSU 2 (Burckhard, Bultsma). Turnovers – USD 9, SDSU 14. Total fouls – USD 12, SDSU 18. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – none. A – 3,672.