Mick Garry

mgarry@argusleader.com

VERMILLION – It doesn’t happen like this is real life. Only in the movies. Only in the bad movies.

On a Wednesday night when the DakotaDome was as lively as it has ever been during the Division I era, the University of South Dakota women’s basketball team completely destroyed the Oregon Ducks in front of 5,080, earning an 88-54 win while advancing to a WNIT championship game that will take place at the dome at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

DakotaDome’s long goodbye as a basketball facility will now officially be talked about for a very long time. The old gal just doesn’t want to give up on roundball just yet. USD will now play the winner of Michigan vs. Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday accompanied by a crowd expected to be bigger than Wednesday's.

“Even when we were just warming up at 60 minutes (before the game), the people were filling in,” said Kelly Stewart, who was one of six Coyotes who hit double-figures. “Then every time we came out of the locker room there was more people. And finally, when we were about to do the starting lineups, I looked up and I got a huge smile on my face. Everyone was smiling.”

Those smiles never went away on this night because almost nothing ever went wrong.

Consider that the Coyotes were 12-for-14 on 3-pointers when, with a 33-point lead in the fourth quarter, Tia Hemiller was cornered near halfcourt with the possession clock down to next to nothing. No problem. On a night where nothing goes wrong you load up a one-hander and throw it toward the hoop like a quarterback being rushed by a pair of defensive ends.

And the ball goes in and now your team is 13-of-15 on 3-pointers for the night and your lead over Oregon is 74-38 with 6:03 to play. It was later featured on "SportsCenter's" Top 10 as the No. 1 play of the night.

“I’ve never made a half-court shot before,” Hemiller said. “I just baseball-threw it up there and once it left my hand I’m like, ‘Oh, that looks pretty good.’ It was awesome.”

Hemiller then laughed at the sheer ridiculousness of that shot going in. But within the context of what was happening, it wasn’t nearly as strange as it might have been during a normal game.

“Things had gone very well for us up to that point,” Williams said. “But you see that heave from almost half-court at the shot clock buzzer and it goes in and it’s like, ‘This is our night.’”

The Coyote win was comprehensive in the scorebook. How do you beat a Pac-12 team that has a win over an NCAA Final Four team? Hit 34-of-63 from the field, outrebound the opponent 38 to 21, give up just four offensive rebounds, put six players in double-figures, earn 23 assists off 34 field goals.

And start the game as hot as you’ve ever started a game. The Coyotes hit 7-of-9 from beyond the arc in the first half led by Caitlin Duffy, who came off the bench to hit all three of her attempts in the first 20 minutes. USD followed that by hitting their next six in a row. At the end of the third quarter, USD led 68-32. A team that had been favored to take down a feisty mid-major foe was being completely dismantled.

“When I see my teammates, top-to-bottom, making these 3-pointers, I’m thinking they deserve that – that’s their shot,” Stewart said. “It was awesome to see everyone knocking those huge shots down.”

Stewart and reserve post player Abigail Fogg led with 14 points. Hemiller had 13, Duffy had 12, Jasmine Trimboli had 11 and Nicole Seekamp had 10 points. Jacinta Vandenberg led Oregon with 17 points. Lexi Bando added 15.

Tweets: Best reactions from USD's rout of Oregon

The Coyotes held the nation’s top 3-point shooting team – the Ducks have four starters who were hitting 39 percent or higher from beyond the arc – to a 5-of-14 effort and a 21-of-52 effort from the field overall.

“When we believe in each other and make that extra pass and work hard on defense, that’s when we play our best,” Hemiller said. “As of lately we’re all just enjoying every moment. We don’t want to end on a loss.”

There is at least a little time to try to take it all in. USD’s hope for an NCAA berth was shot down with a Summit League title game loss to SDSU, but the Coyotes have since run off five consecutive wins against teams from five different conferences with four of the five defeated teams hailing from what would be considered ritzier neighborhoods. You could argue on a few of them but not on the Big East (Creighton), the Big 10 (Minnesota) and now the Pac-12.

They gave Williams the microphone afterward and let her announce to the crowd that the WNIT championship game would be played in Vermillion at the DakotaDome. And this, without discussion, will be the last game in the big house.

“One of the coaches said, ‘Coach, just sit down and enjoy this,’” Williams said. “But I just wanted to be up for every play. It was such a fun game and fun to see everybody stepping up. You had Abby Fogg getting in there and we knew we needed her to have a big game and then she makes a big play. It didn’t really matter what the scoreboard was saying. You just kind of want to celebrate all of those small victories that we had within the game.”

There was nothing small about the final score, or getting to host a WNIT final in two days.

“Something that has been huge for us is that Coach Williams and the whole coaching staff has been instilling in us that we need to take advantage of this opportunity,” Fogg said. “Now we just need to take advantage of it to the fullest.”

Oregon (24-11)

Jacinta Vandenberg 7-10 3-3 17, Maite Cazorla 3-10 0-0 7, Lexi Bando 6-13 0-0 15, Lexi Petersen 1-6 2-4 4, Kat Cooper 1-3 0-0 3, Liz Brenner 0-1 0-0 0, Mar'Shay Moore 0-0 0-0 0, Lauren Yearwood 1-2 0-1 2, Oti Gildon 2-6 2-2 6, Katie Gruys 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-52 7-10 54.

USD (31-6)

Margaret McCloud 1-3 0-0 2, Tia Hemiller 5-8 0-0 13, Jasmine Trimboli 3-6 2-2 11, Kelly Stewart 6-7 0-0 14, Nicole Seekamp 6-7 2-3 0-0 10, Allison Arens 1-1 0-0 2, Jaycee Bradley 1-3 0-0 3, Bridget Arens 0-0 0-0 0, Madeline Homoly 1-2 1-2 3, Caitlin Duffy 4-5 0-0 12, Kate Liveringhouse 1-4 0-0 2, Heidi Hoff 1-6 0-0 2, Abigail Fogg 6-11 2-2 14. Totals 34-63 5-6 88.

Oregon 9 16 7 22 - 54

USD 19 20 29 20 - 88

3-pointers - Oregon 5-14 (Cazorla 1-3, Bando 3-6, Petersen 0-3, Cooper 1-2), USD 15-21 (Hemiller 3-5, Trimboli 3-3, Stewart 2-2, Seekamp 2-3, Bradley 1-2, Duffy 4-5, Hoff 0-1). Rebounds - Oregon 21, USD 38 (McCloud 7). Fouls - Oregon 8, USD 16. Fouled out - None. Assists - Oregon 13 (Cazorla 8), USD 23 (Hemiller 6, Seekamp 6). Turnovers - Oregon 11, USD 8. Blocks - Oregon 4, USD 3. Steals - Oregon 3, USD 5. A - 5,080.

COMING UP

Coyotes will host either Michigan or Florida Gulf Coast at 2 p.m. Saturday in the WNIT championship. The winner of the other semifinal will be decided tonight.

TV: CBS Sports Network

Tickets: $20 adults, $6 kids at goyotes.com or 605-677-5959.

Online: Live blog at argusleader.com.

Watch: Tia Hemiller's amazing halfcourt shot in USD's win