South Dakota women's basketball goes cold, drops 1st game of the season, 74-51, to No. 21 Creighton

South Dakota Grace Larkins hopes South Dakota’s already experienced its high and its low with its 3-point shooting. After a historic, program-record 19 3-pointers against Midland in the season-opener Monday, the Coyotes hit their new season low.

In a 74-51 loss to Creighton the Coyotes hit just 2-17. Larkins hopes that’s the worst it gets. Maybe USD can find a “medium.” Or…

“Hopefully the high,” Larkins said with a grin, “over and over again.”

It happened to be against the No. 21 Bluejays (2-0) Thursday, but South Dakota (1-1) didn’t have it in their second game at Sanford Coyote Sports Center. It shot just 30.2% from the field and had just four assists to its 15 turnovers. Larkins led the Coyotes with 20 points, but shot just 4-17 from the field. No other players scored in double figures as South Dakota forward Alexi Hempe eight points was second on the team. “It’s a long season,” Hempe said, and this loss is an opportunity to “learn something” that a 60-plus point win over Midland couldn’t teach.

“It's certainly disappointing, of course, as a competitor: you bring in a really great opponent, you wish the score was closer,” South Dakota head coach Kayla Karius said. “But I thought in certain stretches we showed good fight and good toughness along the way.”

In the first five minutes and throughout the remainder of the first quarter, South Dakota was hitting and the Bluejays were not. The Coyotes swarmed on defense, reminiscent of the defense that carried them early in the year and made them a Sweet 16 team later in the year last year, not allowing much of anything around the rim and allowing Creighton to beat them from the outside — which the Bluejays didn’t.

Larkins was the best player on the floor, penetrating the defense then finishing scoop layups with the right or left hand. And behind 11 early points from Larkins, the Coyotes jumped ahead. Creighton always seemed a few makes away, but the momentum was firmly South Dakota to the end of the first quarter which the Coyotes won 19-12.

But then came the second quarter. Creighton didn’t explode, but their shots started to fall, and South Dakota’s started to not. USD inserted a few players that, against Midland, were instand sources of offense in forward Morgan Hansen, guard Nicole Avila-Ambrosi and freshman forward Walker Demers, and they each had a few looks, but nothing converted.

South Dakota went cold, reminiscent of the poor shooting that drained it early last season, too. It missed on its last nine shots after guard Macy Guebert hit the last shot of the quarter on a jumper off a curl with 8:20 left in the half. It turned the ball over five times in that span. Creighton missed first opportunities, and then converted on their second. “That's what started to deflate us just kind of little by little,” Karius said. South Dakota, up seven at the end of the first quarter, dug itself an 11-point hole at halftime.

It continued in the second half. As Creighton guard Molly Mogensen erupted on several drives to the basket, the Coyotes didn’t have an individual performance to match it. Larkins and Hempe still remained creative with the ball in their hands, changing their speed and direction to create a few layups, but it wasn’t enough to counter the rest of the team’s misses.

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At the end of the third and the start of the fourth quarter, South Dakota forward Jeniah Ugofsky used good footwork to connect on two layups, but just as quickly, Creighton responded with a basket on the other end. Soon, there wasn’t even a USD basket on the front-end of that sequence. The Bluejays just took over control.

“They played great tonight,” Hempe said. “You have to get ready for the next game because there's always a next game coming.”

Follow Sioux Falls Argus Leader reporter Michael McCleary on Twitter @mikejmccleary.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: USD women's basketball goes cold, drops 74-51 game to No. 21 Creighton