Coyote women ranked nationally for offense

For the third week in a row, the University of South Dakota women’s basketball team has been ranked by ESPN as one of the top schools for its offense among schools like Baylor, UCONN, Notre Dame and Ohio State.

The Coyotes have ranked in the top 15 in the last three weeks, and are now ranked No. 10. But the Coyotes aren’t focusing on scoring despite being in the top fifteen for scoring with an average of 79.4 points per game.

“Our focus has been to get tougher, more physical and continue to improve defensively,” said Head Coach Amy Williams. “But right now our team plays unselfish — we share the basketball and we are very fortunate for that. We have a lot of players that can step up and contribute offensively.”

Multiple players who average double digits in points per game has been a recurrence for the Coyote women, which aided in the ranking.

“Everyone on our team is a capable scorer and going off at any night,” senior guard Raeshel Contreras said.

Even with the high scoring, the team hasn’t been concerned with making the list, not paying attention to lists, rankings, polls or standards. Rather, they are looking at the process.

“If you get bogged down with that then you can get overconfident in areas,” Williams said. “We have talked about how the results will take care of itself, and the team just ends up where we want to be as long as you take care of the process and execution. (Being on the list) is a nice perk that goes along with our execution.”

The team’s transition game adds a lot of points and helps the team on the list, senior guard Nicole Seekamp said.

“Our points come from when we get stops on the defense and transition lay-ups. If we play really good defense, that usually leads to good offense,” she said. “Coach always wants us to out-rebound our opposition, because if we out-rebound them we usually win the game.”

The coaching staff recruits those who are making the transition plays. They look for players who have natural instincts to make hustle plays. The coaching staff rewards the players who do the dirty work like rebounding, screens and actions that don’t show up in the stat lines.

“Those players bring that energy and intensity to practice every day and to our games,” Williams said.

The team’s goal is to be back in the NCCA tournament, and for that to happen the team will have to win the Summit League Tournament. To get there, the team is working on better defense and finding ways to improve every game.

“Last year we weren’t the best defensive team, and we took that as disrespect. Defense wins you championships,” Contreras said.

While the players are working hard to improve defense, the coaching staff is putting the players in positions to be successful and continue to develop their skills to take shots.

“They give us great scouts. To take our game to the next level we need to follow our scouting reports better,” Contreras said.

Junior guard Tia Hemiller said the coaches hold them responsible.

“If someone isn’t making their shots, they come work with you and rebound for you,” she said.

But ultimately, it comes down to the players.

“We have really good players that play confident and make plays for their team,” Williams said.

(Junior guard Heidi Hoff goes up for a lay-up in the Coyotes’ 82-56 win against Denver Jan. 28 at the DakotaDome. Ana Glenski / The Volante)