- Southern Illinois stymied South Dakota’s offense and put just enough points on the board to earn a 22-10 win Saturday inside the DakotaDome in a first-round, NCAA playoff game. USD Quarterback Carson Camp entered as the ninth-most efficient passer in the nation. He threw just four interceptions during the regular season, but the Salukis got him three times Saturday and he lost a fumble late after a 29-yard scramble down the field. He passed for 202 yards and completed 19-of-31 attempts. Caleb Vander Esch caught three passes for 51 yards in the loss. Southern Illinois, 8-4, advances to face No. 2 North Dakota State (10-1) Saturday in Fargo, North Dakota. Those two teams, despite competing in the Valley, did not face each other during the regular season. South Dakota, hosting its first NCAA playoff game in 35 years, saw its season end with a 7-5 mark.
- The South Dakota Volleyball program is headed to the NCAA Tournament for the third time in four seasons thanks to an emphatic sweep over Omaha in Saturday’s Summit League tournament championship that took place in front of 1,097 fans inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center on Saturday. The second-seeded Coyotes, winning their second straight tournament title, pulled out a couple of dramatic sets, 25-23, 30-28 to take a 2-0 lead and never looked back in set three to finish it off 25-16. South Dakota, moving to 20-9 on the season, matched a season-high for a three-set match with 57 kills while hitting .372, the fifth-highest three-set hitting percentage in tournament history. The Coyotes now prepare for the NCAA Tournament, where they will take on 12th seeded Minnesota Golden Gophers in Minneapolis on Friday for a 7pm first serve.
- South Dakota senior guard Chloe Lamb scored 10 of her career-high 30 points in overtime to launch the Coyotes past Pitt 72-61 on Saturday night in the Paradise Jam at the University of Virgin Islands Sports and Fitness Center. South Dakota (3-4) earned its first win in program history over an ACC opponent. South Dakota shot 34.2 percent from the floor and 26.7 percent from behind the arc for the game. Pitt finished 33.3 percent from the field and 25.0 percent from deep. South Dakota returns home to the friendly confines of the Sanford Coyote Sports Center for the next three games. The Coyotes host Wichita State Saturday at 1 pm.
- Nebraska’s Keisei Tominaga and Bryce McGowens both dropped 20-point games to lead the Huskers to an 83-70 victory over South Dakota Men’s Basketball on Saturday afternoon inside Pinnacle Bank Arena. The Huskers (5-2) capture the Nebraska MTE title, winning all three games on their home floor. South Dakota (4-2) finished 2-1 in the multi-team event with wins over Southern and Tennessee State. The Coyotes were led by Kruz Perrott-Hunt’s 19 points, 14 of which came in the first half. The Coyotes shot 42.4 percent from the floor and knocked down 12-of-25 from behind the arc. South Dakota travels to San Jose State tomorrow for a 9 pm tip-off against former Nebraska head coach Tim Miles. Miles is in his first season with the Spartans.
- South Dakota State Womens Basketball knocked off #15 UCLA 76-66 Saturday at Hertz Arena during day two of the Gulf Coast Showcase. Four players in double figures led the Jackrabbits to the upset victory over the Bruins. Tori Nelson and Lindsey Theuninck scored 11 points apiece for the Jacks, followed by 10 each from Paige Meyer and Paiton Burckhard. SDSU was 41 percent from the field and 45 percent from the 3-point line. The Jackrabbits will return to action Saturday, December 4 at Northern Iowa.
- The Huskers football program ended their season with another close loss, this time on Friday, and against rival Iowa 28-21. The Huskers, who are not bowl eligible, end their 2021 campaign with a 3-9 record.
- Viborg-Hurley native Chase Mason has committed to play football for SDSU. Mason announced that he would be entering the transfer portal back on November 15 as he sought to pursue a career in college football instead of baseball at the University of Nebraska. Nearly two weeks after his announcement, Mason announced where he would be taking his talents. The former Viborg-Hurley quarterback standout is headed to Brookings, S.D. to join the SDSU football team.
- The Mount Marty Lancers men’s basketball team played twice over the weekend in the Draemel (Dray-mel) Classic down in Fremont, Nebraska. First, the Lancers played against Bellevue University on Saturday. Mount Marty made it a close game in the final minutes after trailing by 17 at the beginning of the second half, but it was Bellevue who pulled away in the final minutes to win the game 73-66. The Lancers had a very quick turnaround with a Sunday matchup with Dakota State. Dakota state had a 13 point lead with 12:00 minutes left in the game, but the Lancers stormed back to tie it up in the final seconds at 64. With 30 seconds on the clock, it was Dakota state who made two shots in the final seconds to take the game 68-64. Mount Marty falls to 3-9 on the season after an 0-2 weekend. Next up for both men’s and women’s basketball at Mount Marty is a Wednesday evening double-header against Midland University. The women will play first at 6pm with the pregame at 5:30 on KYNT and KYNTV.
