South Dakota opens league play in Tulsa on Dec. 20. In early March, they’ll tip off in the Summit League Tournament in Sioux Falls. In either instance, and anywhere in between, it’s a safe bet that the Coyotes will not find themselves overwhelmed. 
 
Why? Their hornet’s nest of a non-conference run simply won’t have allowed it. 
 
Dawn Plitzuweit has tested her team with a tough out-of-league schedule which, as of Tuesday, was rated the sixth-most difficult in the country per warrennolan.com. It has included headliners against No.1 South Carolina, No. 18 Texas A&M and an Oklahoma team on the cusp of being ranked, and been rounded out by a host of other games against quality teams. 
 
The sixth-year USD coach talked about that gauntlet after the Coyotes’ season-opening nailbiter against the Sooners. 
 
“Our reward is to go on and take on a great basketball team, and our reward after that is to go take on another great basketball team,” she said in the post-game press conference. “That’s just what we face throughout our entire non-conference.”
 
The green shoots have already been there for the Coyotes. At 5-4, USD has navigated through its stiff first four weeks with a winning record, and holds a road victory at a Drake team picked to finish second in the Missouri Valley, as well wins against teams from the ACC (Pitt) and American (Wichita State). 
 
Perhaps most impressively, they’ve competed no matter the situation. 
 
The season-opening loss to the OU looked to be getting away from the Coyotes, as they trailed by 11 points at the end of the third quarter, and by as many as nine with just under four minutes left. Nonetheless, Liv Korngable led a late charge that had them in a position to win the game in the final seconds and Plitzuweit said she was proud her team’s effort and toughness in that game, a pair of adjectives that could be applied throughout the year. 
 
The Coyotes bounced back from a tough outing against the top-ranked Gamecocks to win at Drake, a team that is currently riding a four-game winning streak. They also bounced back from a loss against Northwestern in the opener of the Paradise Jam to lead Texas A&M by nine points at the half. And while they wilted against the Aggies in the second half of that game, they were able to spring back yet again and grab an overtime win against Pitt before leaving the Virgin Islands. 
 
The preseason Summit league favorite now looks to reap the fruits of that fiery schedule. 
 
An at-large bid may be a longshot at present, especially as the Coyotes will lack the type of high-end, Quad 1 wins South Dakota State had a year ago. But, the Coyotes have a Quad 2 win (Drake) and no bad losses which, if nothing else, could keep a dream alive at the fringes if it’s needed later in the season. More importantly, they’ll look to grow from the stingy early experience. 
 
That was on display against Wichita State, where senior Hannah Sjerven was unguardable to the tune of a career-high 35 points. That scoring explosion was on par with fellow senior Chloe Lamb, who had a 25-point game against Northwestern and scored 30 points to ensure the Coyotes left the Paradise Jam with that win over Pitt. The Coyotes star senior trio has been rounded out by Korngable, whose 24 points remain the most any player has scored against the Gamecocks so far this year. 
 
The all-Summit honorees from a year ago have been performing at near similar levels, and have fueled a tight rotation from Plitzuweit thus far. Freshman Grace Larkins, who Plitzuweit praised in press conferences following games against OU and Briar Cliff, may be an X-factor as the season progresses, and had her best outing to date against Division I competition in Monday’s stifling win over Bradley (9 points, 2 rebounds). 
 
USD’s calling card, however, has been its defense. 
 
Despite the snake pit of a schedule they’ve still kept their Division I opponents to a more than respectable 60.1 points per game, on par with what last year’s NCAA Tournament team did over the course of the entire season. And like last year, they’ve made life difficult around the basket, allowing opponents to shoot just 42 percent on two-point field goal attempts, a mark that must have Plitzuweit encouraged given the size and physicality of a number of teams on the schedule thus far. 
 
After the OU loss, Korngable reflected on what the team could learn from their near miss. 
 
“Basketball is a game of runs, and limiting the other teams’ runs is what we’ll take from this game,” she said. 
 
As conference play looms, the Coyotes will hope that what they’ve learned overall from one of the country’s most difficult schedules will help drive a run of their own through Sioux Falls.