Coyotes end time at DakotaDome on pitch perfect note

In the weeks following the loss to South Dakota State in Sioux Falls, Coyote basketball performed a 180.

After the crushing blow in the Summit League Championship that ended the Coyotes’ dream of a NCAA Tournament berth, the Coyotes did the best with the hand they were dealt by defeating Florida Gulf Coast to win the Women’s National Invitation Tournament.

“That fact that we got a next game was just a great opportunity in itself,” senior Margaret McCloud said. “A lot of teams lose in their conference tournament and they don’t get this chance, so we grabbed hold of it and just made the most of it the whole way.”

The Coyotes showed strong fortitude rebounding against tough opponents and Power Five schools. After the selection committee told them they weren’t good enough, they became the seventh mid-major to win the WNIT and the first Summit League team to win a national post-season title.

“Of course the first goal is to win the conference tournament and when you fall short of that you have to make a new goal,” McCloud said. “Now we treat this tournament as the goal and do whatever we can to get there.”

Needless to say, the Coyotes got to that goal. They went on a run through fellow mid-majors as well as traditional Power Five powerhouses and put South Dakota basketball on the national radar. After a dominating Final Four performance against the Ducks of Oregon, USD earned the right to host the championship match.

More than 7,400 fans packed into every inch of space in the DakotaDome and provided the Coyotes with a true home court advantage. The fans provided a lift that the players picked up on.

“They were absolutely amazing,” said senior Kelly Stewart.

From his courtside, midcourt vantage point in the Dome, USD president Jim Abbott has watched the team fight their way from Division II to Division I national champions. Abbott said he was proud of this team, as they could’ve packed it up and given in after Sioux Falls, but they showed the fight to get them to the top.

“Clearly there is an afterlife. Our afterlife in this instance was rebounding from the loss in the Summit League Tournament and moving to the WNIT,” Abbott said. “I couldn’t be more proud of our players and of our coaches and our fans, our fans were tremendous.”

The fans blew Abbott away and demonstrated just what an involved fan base can do.

“I wasn’t shocked that they would step up, but I was shocked that they would step up to that level,” Abbott said. “They weren’t spectators. They were fans and there’s a lot of difference.”

The Coyotes’ WNIT title coinciding with the Dome sendoff was a storybook ending to basketball in the venue. Not just storybook, as Abbott pointed out, but Hollywood.

“I feel a little like Hoosiers,” Abbott said. “I just feel like they must have felt like that ending scene which is great.”

The end of a great Coyote season comes with some trepidation for next. USD will lose five seniors, including four starters. McCloud and Stewart will be gone, along with Summit League Player of the Year and WNIT Tournament MVP Nicole Seekamp and All-WNIT Tournament team members Tia Hemiller and Heidi Hoff.

The departure of these five is the departure of much talent and leadership for the Coyotes. The five teammates, or as they call each other, sisters, brought the program to new heights during in their time in Vermillion.

“The last five years of my live have been the absolute best years of my life,” Stewart said. “Obviously playing with my teammates, my sisters and this outstanding coaching staff in front of these amazing fans.”

The team has emphasized the bond they share all year. They call each other family for a reason.

“I can’t even really put it into words. I’ve lived with them, I’ve played high school basketball with them,” McCloud said. “We’ve become so much more than teammates, pretty much sisters, family. I know that’s going to carry on past this.”

McCloud, Hoff and Hemiller all hail from South Dakota. For them, some fans have followed them since their high school days.

“It’s really cool because you know so many people and so many people support you and support all of us,” Hoff, a Brandon native, said.

McCloud’s faithful fans from Rapid City had a long drive to see her perform in her last collegiate game.

“It’s pretty incredible to have fans that are willing to drive the six hours to come to this game and to just make it to a game and drive right back,” McCloud said.

The team has worked to engrain the culture of family into everything they do.

“That’s kind of our culture here, is just being a team, being a family,” Seekamp said. “That’s what we do when we go out there and play, we’re going to play for each other and play hard.”

When head coach Amy Williams took over in 2012, she fell into a good position with a team, coming off a 23-8 season. Williams has made it into the Summit League Tournament final every year she’s been at USD and has worked improve the team and its culture. She said the culture at USD is one of topping the previous year’s performance.

“The culture here was already very good and they knew how to work. We talked as a staff about wanting to find ways to keep raising the bar and our program has really taken a hold of that and found a way to do that,” Williams said. “Every high we experience, I think, ‘How are we going to top that?’ And we seem to find a way to do it.”

As the championship celebrations continue, the focus shifts to next season. The loss of the five seniors will hurt the team, but players such as juniors Caitlin Duffy, Jasmine Trimboli and Abigail Fogg and freshman Jaycee Bradley seemed primed to step into the starring roles. Even as the Coyotes prepare once again to meet their NCAA Tournament dreams, there’s still time to relish the special season they all were a part of.

“To do something like this is so special,” McCloud said. “People keep reminding us that only three women’s teams in the whole country get to end their senior year on a win and we’re one of those teams. I can’t really put it into words, it’s just amazing.”