Box Score
VERMILLION, SD – South Dakota's Abbey Kinder and Amber Hegge combined for 37 points leading the Coyotes over visiting NJIT, 59-48, in women's basketball Great West Conference action concluding the regular season for both squads in the DakotaDome.
Kinder, a junior guard led the Coyotes with 19 points shooting 5-for-9 from behind the arc and was backed up by Coyotes season leading scorer Hegge with 18. Hegge, a 6-foot-1 forward was 6-of-8 from the field and 6-for-9 at the free throw line. Senior Jasmine Mosley led on the boards with a game-high nine rebounds.
NJIT (11-17, 6-6 GWC), which spilt the season series with South Dakota (NJIT won the first meeting, 55-53, on February 25 in Newark) got 14 points from senior forward Taiwo Oyelola in 17 minutes of action.
Both teams will meet again in the opening round of the Great West Conference Women's Basketball Tournament on Thursday, March 11 at 2:30pm at the UVU Events Center on the campus of Utah Valley University.
The Highlanders, who led for the most part in the first half, came out on fire knocking down its first three field goals of the contest (all from behind the arc) and built a 16-7 lead on a layup by Taiwo Oyelola at 11:38.
South Dakota (14-15, 6-6 GWC) answered with six straight points pulling within two of NJIT, 16-14, on a three-pointer by Kara Iverson at the 7:30 mark. The Highlanders pushed the lead to four on two occasions over the next 3:30 on a layup by Jessica Gerald, for a 20-16 lead.
The Coyotes took its first lead of the game on Kinder's back-to-back three-pointers for a 22-20 lead with 2:32 remaining. On the next possession down the floor for NJIT, freshman Rayven Johnson connected on a jumper knotting the score at 22 but 34 seconds later Hegge knocked down a jumper of her own, 24-22, in favor of the home team. NJIT's Kehinde Oyelola scored a layup with 41 seconds left in the first half, sending both teams into the lockerroom knotted at 24.
The game-high scorer at halftime, with nine points was South Dakota's Kinder and for NJIT were Taiwo Oyelola and Gerald with five points apiece.
South Dakota netted the first six points of the second half, taking a 30-24 lead on Kinder's three-pointer at 18:12. NJIT regained the lead, 35-31 on an 11-1 spurt sparked by Katie Piekielski's three-pointer 11 seconds later. Piekielski had five points in the run.
The Coyotes went ahead for good, 38-36, with 10:50 left on a layup by Mosley. Mosley started an 11-4 run for South Dakota building a eight-point lead, 47-39, at 6:02, on Hegge's layup.
NJIT's Taiwo Oyelola made a pair of free throws at 5:33, closing the score to 47-41. A minute later Hegge scored to begin what became a 12-7 finish for South Dakota.
A crucial basket in the spurt for South Dakota came on a three-point basket by sophomore guard Annie Roche with no time left on the shot clock at 2:21 to help finish off the team's win.
