The 2021–22 Summit League women's basketball season is scheduled to begin with practices in October 2021 followed by the 2021–22 NCAA Division I women's basketball season in November 2021. The conference is scheduled to begin in December 2021. This was the fifteenth season under the Summit League name and the 40th since the conference was established under its current charter as the Association of Mid-Continent Universities in 1982.
The Summit League tournament is scheduled for March 5–8, 2022 at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Off-season
Pre-season
Recruiting classes
+ Rankings Team ESPN SigneesDenver — Kansas City ― North Dakota ― North Dakota State ― Omaha ― Oral Roberts ― St. Thomas ― South Dakota ― South Dakota State ― Western Illinois ―
Preseason watchlists Below is a table of notable preseason watch lists.
WoodenNaismithLiebermanDrysdaleMillerMcClainLeslieWade Myah Selland – South Dakota State Myah Selland – South Dakota StateHannah Sjerven – South Dakota ― ― Myah Selland – South Dakota State ― ―
Preseason polls
Summit League Coaches' Poll
+Women's Basketball Preseason Poll (Coaches) Place Team Points First place votes 1. South Dakota 712 20 2. South Dakota State 672 18 3. North Dakota State 544 ― 4. Kansas City 486 ― 5. Denver 385 ― 6. Oral Roberts 383 ― 7. Western Illinois 382 ― 8. Omaha 314 ― 9. North Dakota 181 ― 10. St. Thomas 147 ― Source:
Summit League Preseason All-Conference
Preseason All-Summit League First Team
+ Key Symbol Meaning Preseason player of the year automatically earns a spot on the first team
NameSchool Pos. Yr. Ht. Hometown (Last School) Naomie Alnatas Kansas City Sr. G 5'7 Cayenne, French Guiana (Chalon Basket) Paiton Burckhard South Dakota State Jr. F 6'0 Aberdeen, SD (Aberdeen Central HS) Tylee Irwin South Dakota State Sr. F 6'0 Wahpeton, ND (Wahpeton HS) Chloe Lamb South Dakota R-Sr. G 5'10 Onida, SD (Sully Buttes HS) Myah Selland South Dakota State R-Jr. F 6'1 Letcher, SD (Sanborn Central/Woonsocket HS) Hannah Sjerven South Dakota R-Sr. C 6'2 Rogers, MN (Rogers HS)
Preseason All-Summit League Second Team
NameSchool Pos. Yr. Ht. Hometown (Last School) Meghan Boyd Denver Jr. G 5'11 Eagle, ID (Eagle HS) Uju Ezeudu Denver Jr. F 6'0 Reynoldsburg, OH (Reynoldsburg HS) Heaven Hamling North Dakota State Jr. G 5'8 Grand Rapids, MN (Grand Rapids HS) Liv Korngable South Dakota R-Sr. G 5'10 Rochester, MN (Mayo HS) Keni Jo Lippe Oral Roberts Gr. G 5'9 Adair, OK (Adair HS)
Midseason watchlists Below is a table of notable midseason watch lists.
WoodenNaismithLibermanDrysdale MillerMcClainLeslie Wade
Final watchlists Below is a table of notable year end watch lists.
WoodenNaismithLibermanDrysdale MillerMcClainLeslie Wade
Regular season The schedule will be released in middle of June.
Records against other conferences 2021–22 records against non-conference foes as of (April 2, 2022):
Regular season Power 7 ConferencesRecordAmerican 1–5ACC 1–1Big East 3–3Big Ten 0–3Big 12 0–7Pac-12 1–1SEC 0–3Power 7 Conferences Total 6–23Other NCAA Division 1 ConferencesRecordAmerica East 0–0 A-10 0–1ASUN 1–0Big Sky 3–5Big South 0–1Big West 1–2CAA 0–0C-USA 0–2Horizon 4–1Ivy League 1–0MAAC 1–0MAC 1–0MEAC 1–0MVC 6–5Mountain West 1–6NEC 0–0OVC 3–0Patriot League 0–1SoCon 0–0Southland 1–1SWAC 1–0Sun Belt 3–0WAC 6–1WCC 1–0Other Division I Total 35–26 Division II Total 2–0 Division III Total 3–0NCAA Division I Total 41–49NAIA ConferencesRecordAMC 1–0GPAC 4–0HAAC 1–0Independent 1–0NSAA 2–0SAC 2–0NAIA Total 11–0
Post Season Power 7 ConferencesRecordAmerican 0–0ACC 0–0Big East 1–0Big Ten 1–1Big 12 1–0Pac-12 1–0SEC 2–0Power 7 Conferences Total 6–1Other NCAA Division 1 ConferencesRecordAmerica East 0–0 A-10 0–0ASUN 0–0Big Sky 0–0Big South 0–0Big West 0–0CAA 0–0C-USA 0–0Horizon 0–0Ivy League 0–0MAAC 0–0MAC 1–0MEAC 0–0MVC 1–1Mountain West 0–0NEC 0–0OVC 0–0Patriot League 0–0SoCon 0–0Southland 0–0SWAC 0–0Sun Belt 0–0WAC 0–0WCC 0–0Other Division I Total 2–1 NCAA Division I Total 8–2
Record against ranked non-conference opponents This is a list of games against ranked opponents only (rankings from the AP Poll):
Date Visitor Home Site Significance Score Conference record Nov 9 Omaha No. 12 Iowa State Hilton Coliseum ● Ames, IA ― L 38–65 0–1 Nov 12 No. 1 South Carolina South Dakota Sanford Pentagon ● Sioux Falls, SD Mammoth Sports Construction Invitational L 41–72 0–2 Nov 15 South Dakota State No. 14 Iowa State Hilton Coliseum ● Ames, IA ― L 56–75 0–3 Nov 26 No. 23 Texas A&M South Dakota † Sports and Fitness Center ● Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam L 44–58 0–4 Nov 27 South Dakota State No. 19 UCLA † Hertz Arena ● Estero, FL Gulf Coast Showcase W 76–66 1–4 Dec 9 North Dakota State No. 6 Arizona McKale Center ● Tucson, AZ ― L 47–59 1–5 Mar 20 South Dakota No. 7 Baylor † Ferrell Center ● Waco, TX NCAA tournament (second round) W 61–47 2–5 Mar 26 South Dakota No. 12 Michigan † Intrust Bank Arena ● Wichita, KS NCAA tournament (Sweet 16) L 49–52 2–6
Team rankings are reflective of AP poll when the game was played, not current or final ranking
† denotes game was played on neutral site
Conference schedule This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play.
Denver Kansas City North DakotaNorth Dakota State Omaha Oral Roberts St. Thomas South Dakota South Dakota State Western Illinois vs. Denver – 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 vs. Kansas City 0–0 – 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 vs. North Dakota 0–0 0–0 – 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 vs. North Dakota State 0–0 0–0 0–0 – 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 vs. Omaha 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 – 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 vs. Oral Roberts 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 – 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 vs. St. Thomas 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 – 0–0 0–0 0–0 vs. South Dakota 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 – 0–0 0–0 vs. South Dakota State 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 – 0–0 vs. Western Illinois 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 – Total 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0
Points scored
TeamForAgainstDifferenceDenver ― ― ―Kansas City ― ― ―North Dakota ― ― ―North Dakota State ― ― ―Omaha ― ― ―Oral Roberts ― ― ―St. Thomas ― ― ―South Dakota ― ― ―South Dakota State ― ― ―Western Illinois ― ― ― Through November 8, 2021
Rankings
Improvement in ranking Drop in rankingRVReceived votes but were not ranked in Top 25NVNo votes received Pre Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 Wk15 Wk16 Wk17 Wk18 Wk19 FinalDenver APNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNV C Kansas City APNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNV C North Dakota APNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNV C North Dakota State APNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNV C Omaha APNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNV C Oral Roberts APNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNV C St. Thomas APNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNV C South Dakota APRVNVNVNVNVNVNVNV NVNV RV C South Dakota State APRVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNV C Western Illinois APNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNV C
Head coaches
Coaching changes
Coaches Note: Stats shown are before the beginning of the season. Overall and Summit League records are from time at current school.
Team Head coach Previous job Seasons at school Overall record Summit record Summit titles NCAA tournaments NCAA Final Fours NCAA ChampionshipsDenver Doshia Woods Tulane (recruiting coordinator) 2nd 7–16 () 5–9 () 0 0 0 0Kansas City Jacie Hoyt Kansas State (assistant) 5th 58–56 () 7–8 () 0 0 ♠ 0 0North Dakota Mallory Bernhard North Dakota (assistant) 2nd 2–19 () 2–13 () 0 0 0 0North Dakota State Jory Collins Kansas (assistant) 3rd 26–28 () 16-16 () 0 0 0 0Omaha Carrie Banks Ohio State (assistant) 2nd 7–13 () 4–8 () 0 0 0 0Oral Roberts Misti Cussen Oral Roberts (assistant) 10th 129–137 () 56–50 () 0 1 0 0St. Thomas Ruth Sinn Apple Valley HS 17th 356–88 () 0–0 () 0 0 0 0South Dakota Dawn Plitzuweit Northern Kentucky 6th 129–30 () 66–9 () 2 2 ♠ 0 0South Dakota State Aaron Johnston South Dakota State (assistant) 22nd 513–170 () 193–35 () 9 10 0 0Western Illinois JD Gravina Quincy 11th 156–146 () 83–73 () 0 1 0 0 Notes: Kansas City joined to Summit League in Summer of 2020. Oral Roberts joined to Summit League in Summer of 2014. ♠ In 2020 earned the NCAA tournament berth but the NCAA tournament canceled due the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall and Summit League records, conference titles, etc. are from time at current school and are through the end the 2020–21 season. NCAA tournament appearances are from time at current school only. NCAA Final Fours and Championship include time at other schools
Postseason
Summit League tournament
South Dakota won the conference tournament from March 5–8, 2022, at the Denny Sanford Premier Center, Sioux Falls, SD. The top eight teams from the conference regular season play at the tournament. Teams were seeded by conference record, with ties broken by record between the tied teams followed by record against the regular-season champion, after the NET rankings if necessary.
Reference:
NCAA tournament
One team from the conference were selected to participate: South Dakota. South Dakota State selected one of the "first four out" team, will act as standbys in the event a school is forced to withdraw before the start of the tournament due to COVID-19 protocols. But that didn't happen, so they participated in 2022 WNIT.
Seed Region School First round Second round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight Final Four Championship No. 10 Wichita Regional South Dakota –––1 BidW-L (%):TOTAL:
National Invitation Tournament Two teams from the conference were selected to participate: South Dakota State & Kansas City.
Bracket School First round Second round Third round Quarterfinals Semifinals Final Region 3 South Dakota State defeated Ohio 87−57 defeated Minnesota 78−57 defeated Drake 84−66 defeated Alabama 78−73 defeated UCLA 62−59 defeated Seton Hall 82−50 Region 3 Kansas City lost to Northern Iowa 58−75 − − − − −2 BidsTOTAL W-L (%):
Index to colors and formattingSummit League member wonSummit League member lost
Awards and honors
Players of the Week Throughout the conference regular season, the Summit League offices named one or two players of the week each Monday.
WeekPlayer of the WeekSchool Ref. Nov. 15Liv KorngableSouth Dakota Nov. 22Brooklyn McDavidKansas City Nov. 29Naomie AlnatasKansas City Dec 6.Danni NicholsWestern Illinois Dec 13.Uju EzeuduDenver Dec 20.Brooklyn McDavid (2)Kansas City Dec 27. Paige MeyerSouth Dakota State Jan. 3Chloe LambSouth Dakota Jan 10.Uju Ezeudu (2)Denver Jan 17.Kacie BorowiczNorth Dakota Jan 24.Kacie Borowicz (2)North Dakota Jan. 31Naomie Alnatas (2)Kansas City Feb. 7Naomie Alnatas (3)Kansas City Feb. 14Myah SellandSouth Dakota State Feb. 21Tirzah Moore Oral Roberts Mar. 1Chloe Lamb (2)South Dakota
School TotalKansas City 5South Dakota 3Denver 2North Dakota 2South Dakota State 2Oral Roberts 1Western Illinois 1
Summit League Awards
The Summit League announced its end of season awards on March 3, 2022 ahead of the start of the Summit League tournament.
2021 ACC Women's Basketball Individual Awards Award Recipient(s) Player of the Year Chloe Lamb – South Dakota Coach of the Year Aaron Johnston – South Dakota State Defensive Player of the Year Hannah Sjerven – South Dakota Freshman of the Year Tirzah Moore – Oral Roberts Sixth Player of the Year Grace Larkins – South Dakota Newcomer of the Year Brooklyn McDavid – Kansas City
WNBA draft
The Summit League had one player selected in the WNBA Draft. Hannah Sjerven from South Dakota selected by Minnesota Lynx on the 3rd round 28th overall pick.
Player Team Round Pick # Position School Hannah Sjerven Minnesota Lynx 3 28 Center South Dakota
References