USD Women Defeat St. Thomas, Advance to Semi's

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – No. 4 South Dakota used a game-opening 11-0 run to help defeat No. 5 St. Thomas 70-57 in Sunday's opening quarterfinal at the Summit League Women's Basketball Tournament. Junior Grace Larkins finished with a season-high 29 points and game-high four assists to pace the Coyotes, who are now 9-0 all-time in the tournament's semifinals.

Larkins contributed nine of those points as the Coyotes built an early double-digit lead and never looked back.

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The Tommies did not get on the board until the 4:11 mark of the opening quarter and missed their first eight field goal attempts before Jordyn Glynn connected on a corner triple.

The teams traded just one basket in the closing four minutes of the opening stanza as USD took a 13-5 lead into the quarter break. Larkins nearly outscored UST by herself in the opening half as she finished with 13 to push USD's advantage to 24-15 at halftime.

The Coyotes' defense was also key in those first 20 minutes, limiting the Tommies to just 22 percent shooting from the floor.

Natalie Mazurek and Carley Duffney would hit back-to-back three pointers to spark a 10-0 run for the Coyotes midway through the third quarter that saw their lead grow to its peak at 20.

USD held a 48-32 advantage entering the fourth quarter, but the Tommies would not go away easy. Amber Scalia, who missed much of the first half after being injured following a collision with a Coyote, scored 20 of her 22 points in the fourth quarter as she made all eight of her field goal attempts.

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