Sunday was a day of upsets in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament, starting with 10-seed Creighton taking down potential National Player of the Year, Caitlin Clark, and the 2-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes in a thriller in Iowa City.
Later in the evening, it was another powerhouse’s turn to get sent home early, as 2-seed Baylor was jumped on early by South Dakota and never recovered in a 14-point loss to the 10-seeded Coyotes. South Dakota started 4-for-4 from the field, taking an 11-0 advantage out of the gates, silencing the Baylor arena crowd and stunning the Bears.
Chloe Lamb hits a 3⃣ to extend the Coyotes run to 11-0. #MarchMadness x @SDCoyotesWBB pic.twitter.com/W52oYVTEjb
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessWBB) March 20, 2022
The Coyotes would take that 11-point advantage and hold onto it for most of the game — leading 16-4 after the first, 34-23 after the second, and 49-36 after the third — with Baylor never managing to even things up as South Dakota always had an answer any time the Bears made a brief run. It was a noticeable difference in energy level from the Coyotes, who flew around on both ends of the floor and flat out-worked Baylor to hand the Bears their first non-conference loss at home since 2014 against UConn.
What a block to end the second quarter
10-seed South Dakota up 11 over Baylor at the half
pic.twitter.com/c4PAhqZ0qb
— ESPN (@espn) March 20, 2022
It was a balanced effort from the Coyotes, with Hannah Sjerven leading the way with 16 points, four rebounds, and four steals, along with 15 points from Chloe Lamb and 11 points from Liv Korngable, including this tough runner to close out the third quarter.
The Coyotes aren't letting up
They're just one quarter away from a trip to the Sweet 16. pic.twitter.com/yxhwTdfIqY
— ESPN (@espn) March 20, 2022
Baylor was never able to mount a run against a South Dakota defense that did a great job keeping them out of the paint, and on a night where the Bears connected on just 20 percent of their threes, they simply didn’t have the firepower to get close. In the end, South Dakota strolled away to a 61-47 win and into the Sweet 16 where they will join Creighton as the first time two double-digit seeds have reached the second weekend in the same NCAA women’s tournament, as there has been no shortage of Madness on the women’s side so far.
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