Coyotes win plethora of Summit League season awards
The Summit League announced their 2019 Men’s and Women’s Basketball Awards at the Summit League Tip-Off press conference Thursday.
Three Coyotes were named first team all-Summit. On the women’s side, Junior Ciara Duffy and senior Allison Arens received the honor. Sophomore Stanley Umude represented the men’s team.
For Duffy, this is her second time being named first-team. Arens is the lone senior for the Coyotes, and this is her third first-team selection. The only other Coyote to do that in Division- I is Nicole Seekamp, who received the honor 2014-2016. Arens was also named Defensive Player of the Year. This marks the second straight season a Coyote has won the award.
Umude received the first team honor for the first time in his young college career. After playing very minimally last season, Umude started the season coming off the bench, and exploded into the star player for USD.
Redshirt-Sophomore Hannah Sjerven received the Sixth Woman of the Year and Transfer of the Year. Sjerven also was an all-Summit honorable mention and a member of the all-Newcomer team. Sophomore Chloe Lamb was also an honorable mention.
Triston Simpson and Trey Burch-Manning were named honorable mentions for the Coyote men. Simpson leads to lead in minutes per game and finished the final seven games with 30 assists to only three turnovers. Burch-Manning, the lone starting senior, missed a decent amount of January with a foot injury.
USD Head Coach Dawn Plitzuweit won her second straight Coach of the Year award. Plitzuweit led the team through a historic season that isn’t over just yet. USD finished at 26-4 on the season and second in the Summit League with a 14-2 record. The 26 wins are a program best at the Division-I level.
The Coyote women beat two Top 25 teams and cracked the Top 25 in the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches Polls for the first time in program history. Plitzuweit is the first coach in program history to win 20 or more games in three consecutive seasons, and she managed to do it in her first three seasons at USD.
The Coyotes play in the Summit League starting Saturday, March 9. The Coyote women will take on North Dakota State in the opening round of the Summit League Tournament this weekend in Sioux Falls, S.D. The game is set to begin at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. If the Coyotes win their semi-final would be Monday afternoon.
The Coyote men start their drive to the Summit League title Sunday night against Purdue-Fort Wayne. The game is the nightcap, scheduled to start at 8:30 p.m. The Coyotes are coming in hot, winning four of their last five games.
