SIOUX FALLS – In recognition of a special season that ended early due to the CoVID-19 outbreak, the University of Sioux Falls Women's Basketball Team was honored on the #SeniorNight segment on SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt on Tuesday night (March 31).
After the NCAA canceled winter and spring sports in March due to the Coronavirus (CoVID-19), Van Pelt and ESPN began saluting high school and college teams around the country whose seasons were canceled early due to the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, they created a #Senior Night segment which showcased USF on March 31.
In his three-minute #SeniorNight segment, the Cougars were featured in about 25 seconds and the first of five teams or athletes mentioned by ESPN's Van Pelt. He said: "The University of Sioux Falls…They had seven seniors: Kaely (Hummel), Jacey (Huinker), Mariah (Szymanski), Jessie (Geer), Augusta (Thramer), Andie (Mataloni) and Abby (Slater). Had a 26-6 record, a first-ever ranking as a Division II school, a first-ever conference (South Division) title, a 3-seed in the (NCAA DII) Tournament. They are very proud of these seniors in Sioux Falls and you ladies should know I was reading all about you and Coach Trap into the wee hours of the morning. You all sounded like an awesome bunch."
"We were honored to be part of the ESPN "Senior Night" segment," said USF Head Coach
Travis Traphagen. "This year's team was amazing with their leadership, work ethic and togetherness. It was an exciting and historic year - winning the South title. For our players, along with their parents, and staff, I want to thank ESPN because this segment helps with the closure due to the way the season ended."
Among those that lost their bids for a possible postseason championship was the USF Women's Basketball Team, which finished 26-6 overall and won the NSIC South title. USF earned a No. 3 seed in the NCAA DII Central Regional Tournament which was scheduled to open on March 13 in Warrensburg, Mo. This season,
Mariah Szymanski and
Kaely Hummel were named to the All-NSIC first team and
Jacey Huinker was selected to the All-NSIC Defensive Team for a second time. Szymanski and Hummel were named to the All-NSIC squad for a third time. In addition, Huinker and Hummel earned selection to the CoSIDA Academic All-District Team. Hummel, who was named to the All-NSIC First Team for a second straight year, was also named D2CCA All-Region and became USF's second-ever WBCA Honorable Mention All-American. All seven USF seniors were part of the NSIC All-Academic Team this winter.
The Cougars began their season 4-0 after a home-win over regionally-ranked Emporia State. It was a victory that helped the Cougars enter the WBCA Top-25 at No. 19 – a first in the DII era. After a 3-0 trip to Hawaii, which included a 79-77 victory on the home floor of Hawaii Pacific – the No. 3 ranked Rainbows only loss all year - USF moved to No. 11 in the country. Then, after a road sweep over Minnesota State and Concordia St. Paul, the Cougars had a 9-0 start as they reached No. 7 in the WBCA Top-25.
The Cougars, which would be ranked by the WBCA or the D2SIDA national polls 10 times – including nine straight weeks - dropped two straight games but quickly ended the losing skein by winning nine in-a-row before a close 78-76 loss at home to Winona State. At 18-3, the Cougars closed with eight wins in their final 11 games and with it came a program-first NSIC South Division title (17-5 record) plus a berth in the NSIC Tournament semifinals for an unprecedented fifth straight year. USF was seeded a program-high No. 3 in the NCAA DII Central Region Tournament which was to be played March 13-16.
Last Friday (March 27), USF tagged Van Pelt on his Twitter account - @notthefakeSVP. On Tuesday (March 31) morning, Van Pelt tweeted to the @USF_Athletics and @USFCougars_WBB twitter accounts: "Tuesday night, you're up. Reading about your seniors now. They sound great."]
Last week, a feature story about the seven USF seniors, including
Augusta Thramer,
Jessie Geer,
Andie Mataloni,
Kaely Hummel,
Mariah Szymanski,
Jacey Huinker and
Abby Slater, was posted on the USF Athletics website. Check out the feature story by
clicking here.
Here is another story about USF Women's Basketball, their season and appearing on ESPN. It was put together by Grant Sweeter of KELO Sports, who is a USF graduate.
