Final Stats | Final Stats (PDF) 
| Postgame Notes
VERMILLION, S.D. - Redshirt junior Kendall Noble scored a game-high 21 points for WKU, but the Lady Toppers fell in a tough battle at South Dakota, 68-54, in the quarterfinals of the WNIT on Sunday evening inside the DakotaDome.
WKU finishes its season with a 27-7 overall record despite losing more than 60 percent of its production from the 2014-15 season. South Dakota (30-6) advances to the semifinals to face the winner of UTEP and Oregon. The Lady Toppers have collected a 103-32 record (76.3 percent) over Michelle Clark-Heard's first four years at the helm of the program.
Noble added eight rebounds, three assists and two steals to her 21 points and was joined in double figures by Tashia Brown, who finished with 12 points. Ivy Brown fell just shy of her second consecutive double-double with eight points and 10 rebounds.
Nicole Seekamp led the Coyotes with 18 points and Jasmine Trimboli and Kelly Stewart each had 11. Stewart collected a team-high nine rebounds for the Coyotes and Seekamp dished out nine assists.
Neither side could gain a lead of more than four points to begin the game until a 7-1 burst by the Coyotes put South Dakota in front, 14-7, with 1:37 to play in the opening quarter. Three different Coyotes scored during the quick run, capped by Stewart's three-pointer off an assist from Trimboli. Trimboli also knocked down a half-court buzzer-beater to end the quarter for South Dakota, putting the Coyotes up 19-11.
WKU fired back, using six straight points in the middle of the second quarter to cut the deficit to just two points, 24-22. Ivy Brown scored four of the points for the Lady Toppers, while Kayla Smith's jumper with 3:54 on the clock brought it to a one-possession game.
Tashia Brown's layup off an assist from Noble tied the game at 29-29 with 16 seconds remaining in the half, but Stewart's jumper with three seconds left gave South Dakota a 31-29 lead heading into the halftime break.
Just over one minute into the third quarter, Ivy Brown knotted the score at 31-31 with a layup, but a three-pointer by Trimboli on the other end gave the Coyotes a 34-31 advantage. South Dakota's lead grew to as many as seven, but WKU battled back, cutting the deficit back to three, 42-39, after baskets from Noble and Tashia Brown.
Trailing by nine points entering the final 10 minutes, Tashia Brown's jumper pulled the Lady Toppers within seven points with 8:55 to play. WKU fought hard down the stretch, but was unable to close the gap any further against the Coyotes.
