WACO, Texas -- From wire-to-wire on Sunday night, the South Dakota Coyotes delivered the sweetest victory in school history.
For the second straight game, South Dakota never trailed and the No. 10-seeded Coyotes advanced to the Sweet 16 at the NCAA women’s basketball tournament for the first time, topping second-seeded Baylor 61-47 at the Ferrell Center on the Baylor campus.
Hannah Sjerven led the Coyotes with 16 points, while Chloe Lamb had 15 points and Liv Korngable had 11 points and five assists for USD, which improved to 29-5.
SWEET, SWEET SOUTH DAKOTA!!
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessWBB) March 21, 2022
No. 10 @SDCoyotesWBB UPSETS No. 2 Baylor, 61-47, to move on to the Sweet 16!#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/mavcqh2RP1
The Coyotes will play on Saturday, March 26 in Wichita, Kansas in the Sweet 16 regional semifinals against either No. 3-seeded Michigan or No. 11 Villanova. The Wolverines and Wildcats will play on Monday in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
South Dakota is only the second team in Summit League women’s basketball history to reach the Sweet 16, joining the 2019 South Dakota State program.
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The loss snapped a 66-game non-conference home win streak for Baylor, including 15 straight NCAA tournament games in Waco. It is the first home loss for Baylor in the NCAA tournament since 2002 and denied Baylor a 13th consecutive trip to the Sweet 16, holding the Bears to a season-low for points in the process.
South Dakota did not trail for the second consecutive game in the NCAA tournament after a 75-61 win over Ole Miss in the first round on Friday. The Coyotes set the tone from opening tip, scoring the first 11 points and leading 16-4 after the opening 10 minutes.
Chloe Lamb hits a 3️⃣ to extend the Coyotes run to 11-0. #MarchMadness x @SDCoyotesWBB pic.twitter.com/W52oYVTEjb
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessWBB) March 20, 2022
Baylor got to within four points with less than 3 minutes remaining in the second quarter with a 3-pointer from Lewis but the Coyotes closed on a surge of its own, hitting its last five shots and swelling the lead back to 11 points.
In the second half, Baylor pulled within seven points but strong defense carried USD through, even without any points in the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter until Maddie Krull scored a key three-point play with 2:53 remaining to put the Coyotes up 52-42 and leave the game on ice from there.
The Bears shot 5 of 26 from 3-point range. NaLyssa Smith, a two-time All-American at Baylor, finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.
