VERMILLION – In a thrilling season-opener, South Dakota Women’s Basketball narrowly lost to Saint Louis 85-83 in overtime on Monday night.

The Coyotes trailed by double-digits in the second half, but a furious comeback kept the two teams tight to end the game. Grace Larkins hit a game-tying shot near the end of regulation to send the game to overtime, however, Saint Louis prevailed with a go-ahead basket with 6 seconds left in overtime. It ended up being the difference as USD couldn’t find the game-tying or winning shot.

The offense for both teams stalled to begin the second quarter. Neither team scored for over three minutes until the Billikens broke that streak with a field goal with 6:44 left to go in the first half. The shooting continued for the Coyotes for most of the second quarter, but a few late shots improved the shooting percentage to 23.5 percent.

The overall first-half shooting percentage was worse as the Coyotes finished the half with a 22.6 shooting percentage on 7-for-31 attempts and the Billikens went into the locker room with a 36-25 lead. The 3-point shooting was a huge struggle in the first half with only a 1-for-13 mark from behind the arc. Olivia Kieffer led USD with 10 points at the half.

Out of the half, Saint Louis extended its lead with an immediate 7-0 run to go up 42-25 within the opening two minutes. Despite the early run, USD responded with a 12-2 run to bring the lead back down to single digits at 44-37 with four minutes left in the third quarter. The Coyote comeback continued as the lead continued to shrink and suddenly the lead was down to only three points at 50-47, but Saint Louis held a 52-47 lead at the end of the quarter.

The Coyotes stuck around in the fourth quarter and reduced the Billiken lead to one possession multiple times in the fourth quarter and were only down 60-59 with five minutes left in the game. Just a bit later, USD took a 62-60 lead with four minutes to go.

The two went back and forth in the final four minutes, but it was Saint Louis who held a 70-69 lead with under 30 seconds to go. Kieffer missed a potential go-ahead jumper with 19 seconds to go, but USD was able to get the ball back with 17 seconds left. However, a missed shot led to a Saint Louis free throw on the other end to make it 71-69. But Larkins came up clutch with a game-tying layup right before time expired.

Saint Louis raced out to a 79-73 lead in the overtime period, but USD wouldn’t go away with multiple 3s to make it 81-79 with a minute and a half to go. With 24 seconds left, the Coyotes trailed 83-81. Larkins did here thing once again with a game-tying basket with 18 seconds to go. However, the Billikens scored with six seconds left to make it 85-83 and the Coyotes were unable to find the tying shot.

For USD, Larkins finished the day with a team-high 27 points and also nabbed 13 rebounds for the double-double. Carley Duffney has a big night as well with 18 points and seven rebounds. For Saint Louis, Peyton Kennedy scored a team-high 25 points while Kennedy Calhoun scored 21 points.

USD (0-1) will hit the road to play at Air Force on Friday, Nov. 8, while Saint Louis (1-0) will also be on the road at Drake on Thursday, Nov. 7.

Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of “Mitchell Republic.” Often, the “Mitchell Republic” byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.