SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Dawn Plitzuweit knew her star guard was scoring a lot, she just didn’t realize how high that number had climbed. In the end, it was higher than it had ever been.
Coyotes senior Chloe Lamb scored a career-high 33 points against Kansas City on Monday afternoon, propelling USD into its fifth consecutive Summit League championship where it will face top-seeded South Dakota State. It was the second time Lamb topped the 30-point mark this season, after dropping 30 in a non-conference win over Pittsburgh in November.
The brightest individual day in an already-storied career could not have come at a better time for Lamb and the Coyotes. The Player of the Year was coming off her toughest outing of the season, managing just six points (2-8 FG) in a quarterfinal win against Western Illinois.
On Monday, things went much differently.
“It felt good coming out of my hand,” Lamb said. “It can be anyone’s night, anyone’s game. The coaches were drawing stuff up for me, my teammates were setting screens and finding me when I was open. They do a good job for me.”
The ball started dropping through the basket for the Onida, S.D. native early against the Roos, and simply did not stop. Lamb hit her first 11 shots, including three-for-three from distance, until she finally drew iron deep into the third quarter. By then, a gritty Kansas City team was doing everything it could do to throw the Coyotes off their rhythm, which had included a potent inside-outside game between Lamb and senior center Hannah Sjerven.
The Roos responded with a little-used zone defense.
“South Dakota, they have so many weapons and we felt like we needed to keep them off a rhythm,” Roos head coach Jacie Hoyt said after the game. “When they get going they’re hard to stop.”
Still, USD had to weather a stretch without its hot-shooting guard with the game in the balance.
Lamb picked up her third foul midway through the third quarter, forcing her to the bench to join Sjerven, who herself was saddled with three fouls. That removed a hot-shooting hand and the Coyotes’ dominant interior force from a game they at the time led by just seven points. Spurred on by Liv Korngable, the team was able to find a solution.
“They had to find a way, and I thought Liv’s leadership during that stretch was outstanding,” Plitzuweit said.
The Coyotes clamped down on the Roos and got timely baskets from Korngable and Macy Guebert as the star tandem sat. That was a familiar sight for the Coyotes, as two days prior they had seen freshman Grace Larkins step up and score 23 points against the Leathernecks in a game where Lamb was uncharacteristically cold.
Still, a red-hot Lamb is the much more likely result whenever Plitzuweit’s team tips off. The USD coach talked about what makes her senior stalwart so dangerous after the Kansas City win.
“She can create shots that not a lot of players can,” Plitzuweit said. “If it’s a late shot clock scenario she can create an opportunity that not many females can, and then make it on top of that. She plays without fear, she’s a competitor.”
Fresh off a career performance, there may be no better way Lamb, Plitzuweit and the Coyotes would want to enter yet another titanic clash with their in-state rival. This time, with a championship on the line.
