Women’s basketball looks ahead to faceoffs against Denver and Omaha

The Coyote women are on a roll. They’re 9-1 in Summit League play and are currently enjoying a seven-game win streak.

A big part of the Coyotes’ roll has been senior guard Nicole Seekamp. Seekamp is coming off a Summit League Player of the Month honor from December and a Player of the Week honor from two weeks ago. The awards aren’t what’s most important to the team right now, but they certainly help.

“It’s a nice achievement. It’s good to keep my confidence up and that kind of thing, but I wouldn’t be able to do that without the team obviously. They get me the ball and they trust me to do what I can to help them out,” Seekamp said. “I guess more thanks to my team and my coaches but it definitely shows how hard I’ve been working and how hard I’ve been working with the team.”

With the wins recently, including a 80-54 drubbing of North Dakota State, the Coyotes are carrying confidence into this week’s two-game road trip to take on Denver and Omaha.

USD had no trouble with Denver last time, defeating the Pioneers 85-60 in the Summit League opener. This time the Denver team is better equipped with two players who missed the first matchup ready to go.

Coyote senior guard Kelly Stewart knows that despite winning last time out, no game in the Summit League is a guarantee.

“Denver has two of their really good girls back that weren’t playing when we played them. Just looking at our league … you really can’t overlook anyone,” she said. “We’re just going to go in one game at a time and execute our game plan like we did last time.”

Despite defeating both teams earlier this year, these games are on the road — which Seekamp said is unpredictable.

“I think it helps that we played them at home first, we’re obviously really good at home but going on the road is always a challenge. I think we will remember that in the back of our minds,” Seekamp said. “We’ve just got to go out there and do the scout and treat it just like it’s a home game. Go out there and play defense and play the scout how we want to and I think that we’ll be fine and get ourselves a win if we do that.”

Despite the Coyotes’ recent success, the team retains a one-game-at-a-time mentality. USD wants to make sure they spend an appropriate amount of time on each opponent, along with a strong focus on defense.

“I think we just have to focus on getting better every game and working on our weaknesses, as well as our strengths. I think the last few games we’ve been getting really good at defense and I think for us defense was a huge key last year as it is every year,” Seekamp said, “Coach Williams is always harping on defense and that defense will win us games. And I think lately we’ve been working on that, and I think that’s why we’ve been able to come out with some decent wins and some close wins.”

The Coyotes take on the Pioneers this Friday at 8:00 p.m. in Denver, C.O. USD will finish the second leg of the road trip on Sunday in Omaha against UNO. Tip off is set for 2:00 p.m.

“Just take it one game at a time. As the league has shown, any team can be beaten any night,” Stewart said. “We just have to make sure that every time we go out to play we’re playing our best.”