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Women's basketball: Coyotes plan to leave D-II in style
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FarkKEARNEY, Neb. — South Dakota hopes to enter the NCAA Division I ranks as the best women’s basketball team in Division II and send out its coach with the ultimate retirement gift.
Those are the major story lines Saturday when the Coyotes (33-1) meet Northern Kentucky (27-8) in the Division II championship game here.
South Dakota, which has won 31 straight games since a November loss to Adams State, will play for the national title for the first time. The school’s athletic program becomes a Division I member in the fall.
This also will be the last game for Coyotes coach Chad Lavin, who is 273-138 in two stints totaling 14 years at his alma mater. He announced his retirement before the season.
Northern Kentucky’s 25th-year coach Nancy Winstel led the Norse Women to their only championship in 2000 and last played for the title in 2003, losing to South Dakota State.
South Dakota, just 15-13 two years ago, returns the core of the team that lost in the first round of the national tournament last season.
All-American Jeana Hoffman, who averages 17.5 points, leads a perimeter-based offense that tops the national chart with better than nine 3-pointers a game. Hoffman scored 27 points in Wednesday’s 85-80 double-overtime win over Washburn and 19 more in Thursday’s 68-58 victory over previously unbeaten Delta State.
The Coyotes have made a combined 15 3-pointers in the last two games.
South Dakota also has gotten key contributions from freshman forward Amber Hegge, who is averaging 7.9 points and 4.6 rebounds. Hegge’s basket with 3:21 left gave USD the lead for good against Delta State, and she scored twice more to keep the Lady Statesmen at bay.
Hegge had 15 points and blocked three shots, tying her with Mandy Koupal (2003-04) for the school record for blocks in a season (53).
Northern Kentucky’s run to the final has been hard-earned. The Norse Women received an at-large bid in the national tournament after losing to Drury in the Great Lakes Valley Conference final, and they had to rally from a 15-point deficit to beat Indianapolis 55-54 in the first round.
At the Elite Eight, the Norse Women beat Wingate 78-65 and Alaska-Anchorage, 57-54.
Angela Healy, a 6-foot-1 center, averages 14.1 points and 9.2 rebounds. Two other starters, forward Cassie Brannen and guard Jessie Slack, score more than 13 points a game.
The Norse Women lead the nation in blocked shots, with 6.5 a game.
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