SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – We have the best news. The Summit League Women’s Basketball regular season is upon us. The League’s 10 members have begun their journey for the 2022-23 regular season crown and it continues this week.
 
Who will take home the trophy this year? The 18-game slate continues tomorrow with eight of our teams taking the court. Tipping off the week is South Dakota State at Western Illinois starting at 6 p.m. CT on Thursday.
 
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TEAM TRACKER
DENVER PIONEERS (4-7, 0-0 SL) | @DU_WHoops
Next Up: at Kansas City (12/29; 6 p.m. MT); at Oral Roberts (12/31; 1 p.m. MT)
Previous Games: at Idaho (L, 91-83); vs. Omaha (Postponed)
Denver is now 4-7 headed into League play after suffering a 91-83 loss to Idaho ... In the loss, Makayla Minett and Mikayla Brandon each finished with double-doubles ... Minett notched 16 points and 10 rebounds while Brandon finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds ... Jojo Jones led the scoring efforts as she notched 22 points as well as dished out a team-best five assists ... Ally Haar rounded out the double-digit scorers as she recorded 18 points including going 7-for-8 from the charity stripe ... The Pioneers were scheduled to open up League play against Omaha on Wednesday, Dec. 21 but due to a forecasted winter storm, the game has been postponed with a new date to be announced at a later time.
 
KANSAS CITY ROOS (4-9, 0-2 SL) | @KCRoosWBB
Next Up: vs. Denver (12/29; 7 p.m. CT); vs. Omaha (12/31; 2 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: vs. Bellevue (W, 74-58); at South Dakota (L, 82-59); at South Dakota State (L, 86-54)
Kansas City started League action with two road losses to South Dakota and South Dakota State ... Against the Coyotes, Rain Green, who’s been out since Nov. 18 due to injury, led the efforts with a team-best 21 points to go along with five rebounds, five assists and a block ... Manna Mensah followed as the only other Roo to finish in double figures as she notched 13 points including going 3-for-5 from behind the three-point line ... Machia Mullens led defensively with a team-best seven rebounds ... In the loss to the Jackrabbits, Sanaa’ St. Andre and E’Lease Stafford paced the efforts finishing with 19 points apiece to lead the Roos ... Stafford also notched five rebounds, an assist and a block while St. Andre had five steals, three rebounds and a pair of assists ... Mensah led the defense grabbing a game-high 12 rebounds.

NORTH DAKOTA FIGHTING HAWKS (9-3, 2-0 SL) | @UNDwbasketball
Next Up: at North Dakota State (12/31; 1 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: vs. St. Thomas (W, 70-56); vs. Western Illinois (W, 69-53)
The Fighting Hawks have started League play with a 2-0 record after defeating St. Thomas and Western Illinois at home ... Against the Tommies, Kacie Borowicz once again paced the offensive efforts pouring in 23 points on 9-for-15 shooting from the field ... She also added three rebounds, three assists and three steals in the victory ... Claire Orth followed Borowicz as she finished with a season-best 18 points on near perfect shooting (8-for-9) as well as grabbed a career-high nine rebounds ... Maggie Manson rounded out the double-figure scorers with 10 points ... In the win over the Leathernecks, Borowicz notched 25 points, a season-best eight rebounds and dished out a game-best five assists ... Nakiyah Hurst recorded a career-high 19 points to go along with seven rebounds ... Orth once again had a double figure night as she finished with 13 points, four rebounds and a pair of steals.
 
NORTH DAKOTA STATE BISON (8-4, 2-0 SL) | @NDSUwbb
Next Up: vs. North Dakota (12/31; 1 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: at Mayville State (12/14; Cancelled); vs. Western Illinois (W, 84-60); vs. St. Thomas (W, 74-56)
North Dakota State is off to a hot start to League play after defeating Western Illinois and St. Thomas ... In the victory over the Leathernecks, four Bison finished with double digits in the points column led by Heaven Hamling’s 13 points ... She also recorded six rebounds and a pair of assists ... Taylor Brown followed with 12 points on 6-for-9 shooting while Elle Evans chipped in 12 points of her own to go along with a game-high five assists ... Abbie Draper rounded out the double-digit scoring efforts with 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting ... On the defensive end, Kristina Ekofo Yomane hauled down a game-high-tying eight rebounds and tallied three steals ... Against the Tommies Hamling and Evans once again saw double digits in the scoring column ... Hamling led the team with a game-high 17 points, six assists and five steals ... Evans had 10 points as well as three rebounds and two steals ... Defensively, Emily Behnke pulled down a game-high eight rebounds, stole the ball once and blocked a shot in the victory.
 
OMAHA MAVERICKS (5-6 0-0 SL) | @OmahaWBB
Next Up: at Oral Roberts (12/29; 7 p.m. CT); at Kansas City (12/31; 2 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: at Northern Colorado (L, 67-45); at Denver (Postponed)
Omaha closed out the nonconference with a 5-6 record after dropping its final nonconference game to Northern Colorado ... Elena Pilakouta led the Mavericks against the Bears pouring in 17 points on 7-for-10 from the field ... She also led the defensive effort pulling down a team-best seven rebounds ...  Pilakouta was the only Maverick to reach double digits ... Following her lead was Morgann Gardner with eight points as well as Aaliyah Stanley and Polina Nikulochkina who each finished with six points apiece ... The Mavericks were scheduled to open up League play against Denver on Wednesday, Dec. 21 but due to a forecasted winter storm, the game has been postponed with a new date to be announced at a later time.
 
ORAL ROBERTS GOLDEN EAGLES (3-10, 0-2 SL) | @ORUWBB
Next Up: vs. Omaha (12/29; 7 p.m. CT); vs. Denver (12/31; 2 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: at Texas Tech (L, 82-68); at South Dakota State (L, 83-80); at South Dakota (L, 101-57)
The Golden Eagles dropped their first two League games on the road against South Dakota State and South Dakota ... It was a hard-fought battle against the Jackrabbits as four finished in double digits for ORU in the three-point loss ... Hannah Cooper led the Golden Eagles with a game-best 25 points on 9-for-17 shooting ... She also notched six rebounds and four assists in the loss ... Sara Rodrigues followed Cooper finishing with 15 points of her own ... Ariel Walker and Delaney Nix rounded out the double-figure scorers finishing with 11 and 10 points, respectively ... For ORU defensively, Makenna Winans pulled down a team-best nine rebounds ... As a squad ORU shot 45.3 percent from the field compared to SDSU’s 37.7 percent and the Golden Eagles held them to just 15 percent from the three-point line ... Cooper led ORU again in the loss to South Dakota finishing with 16 points, five rebounds, three assists and a game-best three steals ... She was the only Golden Eagle to finish in double-digits against the Coyotes ... Ruthie Udoumoh and Sara Rodrigues followed Cooper each finishing with eight points apiece ... Walker led the defense with a team-best six rebounds to go along with seven points, four assists, a block and a steal.
 
ST. THOMAS TOMMIES (5-7, 0-2 SL) | @TommieWBBall
Next Up: vs. South Dakota (12/29; 7 p.m. CT); vs. South Dakota State (12/31; 1 p.m. CT)
Previous Games:  vs. Chicago State (W, 74-56); at North Dakota (L, 70-56); at North Dakota State (L, 74-56)
The Tommies have a 0-2 record to start League play after suffering two road losses to North Dakota and North Dakota State ... In the League play opener against North Dakota, Jo Langbehn was the only Tommie to reach double digits in scoring ... She led the Tommies with 10 points going 4-for-6 from the floor ... Maggie Negaard followed Langbehn’s lead with nine points while Sammy Opichka and Alexis Pratt each tallied eight apiece ... Autam Mendez led the defense with eight rebounds, a block and a steal ... In the loss to the Bison, Opichka was the only Tommie with double-figures in the scoring column as she finished with 10 points on 5-for-7 shooting from the floor ... She also tallied four rebounds, a pair of assists, a block and a steal ... Langbehn had nine points while Jordyn Lamker and Amber Scalia followed with eight points apiece.
 
SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES (6-7, 2-0 SL) | @SDCoyotesWBB
Next Up: at St. Thomas (12/29; 7 p.m. CT); at Western Illinois (12/31; 2 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: vs. UT Martin (L, 67-61); vs. Kansas City (W, 82-59); vs. Oral Roberts (W, 101-57)
South Dakota is off to a 2-0 start in League play after picking up two home wins over Kansas City and Oral Roberts ... The Coyotes saw a career-high 31 points from Grace Larkins to lead them to victory over Kansas City ... She was 11-for-17 from the field to go along with eight rebounds, a career-high eight assists, a pair of blocks and a steal in the win ... Walker Demers followed with 11 points on 5-for-7 shooting and six rebounds ... Macy Guebert rounded out the double-figure scorers against the Roos with 10 points, five assists and four rebounds ... Against the Golden Eagles, five Coyotes reached double figures once again led by Larkins ... She finished with 17 points in just 20 minutes of play due to foul trouble ... Alexi Hempe notched her first career double-double with 13 points and a career-high 11 rebounds ... Morgan Hansen (16), Jeniah Ugofsky (11) and Carley Duffney (12) rounded out the double-figure scorers against the Golden Eagles.
 
RV SOUTH DAKOTA STATE JACKRABBITS (9-5, 2-0 SL) | @GoJacksWBB
Next Up: at Western Illinois (12/29; 6 p.m. CT); at St. Thomas (12/31; 1 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: vs. #1/1 South Carolina (L, 62-44); vs. Oral Roberts (W, 83-80); vs. Kansas City (W, 86-54)
The Jackrabbits captured a 2-0 start to League play after picking up home wins over Oral Roberts and Kansas City ... Myah Selland led a trio of Jackrabbits in scoring against the Golden Eagles ... She recorded her sixth straight double-digit game after she finished with 15 points which included going 7-for-8 behind the charity stripe ... Selland also finished with a team-best seven rebounds, three assists and a steal ... Paiton Burckhard followed with 12 points, seven rebounds, a steal and an assist in the win ... Tori Nelson was 3-for-6 from the field as well as 4-for-4 from the free throw line en route to 10 points of her own ... In 21 minutes of action, Selland led the Jacks against the Roos with 20 points, a team-best nine rebounds, a pair of assists and a block ...  Her efforts against the Roos achieved her a pair of career milestones, crossing both the 1,800 points and 750 rebound thresholds ... Burckhard finished with 15 points and five rebounds while Haleigh Timmer notched 12 points of her own ... Madysen Vlastuin came off the bench for SDSU and finished with 10 points.
 
WESTERN ILLINOIS LEATHERNECKS (5-8, 0-2 SL) | @WIUWBB
Next Up: vs. South Dakota State (12/29; 6 p.m. CT); vs. South Dakota (12/31; 2 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: vs. Saint Xavier (Ill.) (W, 84-69); at North Dakota State (L, 84-60); at North Dakota (L, 69-53)
The Leathernecks fell to 0-2 to start League play after suffering road losses to North Dakota State and North Dakota ... Against the Bison, Anna Deets and Jada Thorpe paced the offensive efforts for the Leathernecks ... Deets recorded a team-best 16 points including going a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line ... Thorpe followed with 15 points, five rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals ... Defensively, Alissa Dins led with a team-high eight rebounds and five steals ... In the loss to the Fighting Hawks, Thorpe led the offensive efforts as the only Leatherneck to finish in double figures ... She recorded 15 points, including going 3-for-4 from the three-point line, and tallied five rebounds and a pair of steals ... Dins once again led the defense as she pulled down a career-high 13 rebounds, notched two steals and blocked a shot.