GoYotes.com – USD’s women’s basketball team earned a #8 seed and will play 9th-seeded Clemson Friday at 6p (CT) in Starkville, MS, in the first round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.
The Coyotes, 28-5 overall, are the first Summit League program to receive an at large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Northern Illinois made the field as an at large team in 1994 when the league was known as the Mid-Continent Conference.
This is the 2nd NCAA D-I tournament appearance for South Dakota, which first appeared as a #15 seed in 2014. The Coyotes qualified for eight NCAA tournaments at the Division II level, including a national runner-up finish in 2008 – the year before the program began its transition to Division I. USD is 8-9 all-time in NCAA tournament play.
Friday’s matchup will be the first between USD and Clemson. The ninth-seeded Tigers finished the regular season 19-12 overall and 9-7 in the ACC. Clemson is making its 16th NCAA tournament appearance and first since 2002.
The winner of Friday’s matchup will take on the winner of top-seeded Mississippi State (30-2, 15-1 SEC) and SWAC champion Southern (21-11, 14-4), a 16-seed. That game will follow the Coyotes and Tigers at 8p (CT). Mississippi State lost to Notre Dame in the national championship game last season.