Grace Larkins Leads South Dakota Women’s Basketball to Victory with Stellar Performance

2023-11-25 22:01:43

South Dakota women’s basketball guard Grace Larkins led the Coyotes in every major statistical category in the team’s 72-52 win over South Carolina State on Saturday followingnoon, including rebounding despite often being the smallest player on the court.

The 5-foot-9, lanky junior guard had game-highs in points with 16, assists, 7, and rebounds with 8. As a collective, USD outrebounded the Bulldogs 30-26.

“Grace has such a nose for the ball, she’s a really instinctual player,” South Dakota women’s basketball coach Kayla Karius said following the win. “Oftentimes, you’re gonna see our post players having some pretty good box outs and then Grace is the one who flies in and goes to get it.”

Having a point guard who can crash the defensive glass and come up with rebounds makes it a lot easier to get out on the break, which the Coyotes were able to do frequently on Saturday, outscoring the Bulldogs in fast break points 12-4.

“It’s my favorite part,” Larkins said of leading the team in transition through excited laughter. “I like doing that.”

Larkins was also a perfect 5-for-5 from the field and didn’t force a single bad shot. Yet, following the game she was the first to point out her four turnovers.

“Just trying to be less chaotic with the ball instead of just throwing up a shot,” Larkins said of how she’s tried to be more efficient with her shot selection. “Like looking for an extra pass, but I should probably work on cleaning up the turnovers next.”

Even with Larkins’ four turnovers the Coyotes still won the turnover margin 18-13 and scored 18 points off turnovers.

On offense, USD took what the South Carolina State defense gave them, which was a lot of threes, 28 to be exact. The Bulldogs spent some time in a 2-3 zone and South Dakota took advantage, moving the ball to find the open shooter and they knocked down their shots from outside the arc at a 35% clip.

Overall, the Coyotes shot 50% from the field while their defense held the Bulldogs to 40.9% from the floor and 26% from three.

The game was played in front of 1,800 fans, most of which were donning red USD gear, at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls.

“I thought it was a great atmosphere,” Karius said of the Pentagon crowd. “I thought it was a pretty good crowd in red … Once we finally hit big shots and made good plays, they were into it. So yeah, we appreciate everybody for coming out. I thought it was a good turnout.”

The Coyotes’ next game will be on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Sanford Coyote Sports Center once morest Northern Iowa.

Jonathan Fernandez covers high school and college sports for the Argus Leader. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @JFERN31

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