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kota State its first tournament loss after 15 consecutive victories.
• The University of South Dakota, which based in Vermillion about 60 miles south of Sioux Falls, enjoyed a mostly hometown crowd of the 4,125 fans at the Sioux Falls Arena.
• Wirth made two foul shots to give Denver a 21-14 lead with 11:15 left in the first half, but the Coyotes came right back. They grabbed a 29-28 lead when Seekamp's steal led to Bridget Arens' layup with 4:47 to go.
• Seekamp was 0 for 7 from the field at the break, but South Dakota had a 33-32 lead. Margaret McCloud had a game-high nine points for the Coyotes at intermission.
• Denver and South Dakota were locked in a close one, before the Coyotes pulled away down the stretch. Seekamp's jumper with 6:42 to go started an 18-5 run that made it 80-65 with 53 seconds left.
• "Fortunately for us, we kind of made a run at the right time and the clock just kind of ran out on them," Coyotes coach Amy Williams said.
• Denver coach Kerry Cremeans said South Dakota showed a tough transition offense but her team fought hard for 40 minutes.
• "They gave South Dakota everything they could handle," Cremeans said.
• The sixth-seeded Pioneers had just two road victories in the regular season, but reached the tournament final by topping third-seeded IPFW 79-73 on Sunday, and then eliminating No. 2 seed IUPUI with a 76-69 overtime victory on Monday. If Denver had won the title, it would have set a new low win total for a qualifier for the NCAA women's tournament.
• Cremeans said playing in the conference title game will prove to be a great experience for her players.
• "Those kids feel it. They know it," she said. "They feel the emotion of it."
• Pioneers forward Alison Janecek said the loss is disappointing, but the experience was great.
• "We feel really good about what we were able to accomplish in this tournament," she said.
• South Dakota made the jump to Division I athletics in 2008-2009. The Coyotes advanced to the Summit League finals in 2013, but lost to South Dakota State 56-53 in the championship when Alexis Yackley's 3-point attempt bounced off the rim in the final seconds.
• The Coyotes finally got past the Jackrabbits in this year's semifinals, knocking off the top seed 72-58 by taking an early lead and holding it through the final buzzer.
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