No. 10 South Dakota will play No. 7 Ole Miss in NCAA tournament first round

South Dakota women's basketball guard Liv Korngable was worried "they forgot about us."

"I think we got pump-faked a few times with some red (school color) teams," USD forward Hannah Sjerven said after watching the NCAA tournament selection show.

Sunday night wasn't supposed to be stressful for USD. It was the automatic qualifier for the Big Dance out of the Summit League by winning the conference tournament. But when the second-to-last pairing in the brackets was revealed, still no Coyotes.

Yet, everyone knew what that meant.

The fans behind the South Dakota women's basketball players sitting on the Sanford Coyote Sports Center floor stood, the players leaned forward in their chairs. It took until the final game was revealed, but it is happening. South Dakota women's basketball is going dancing in Texas.

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"You know you're in, but having to wait that long wasn't very nice of them," USD senior guard Chloe Lamb said. "But, we'll take it. For sure."

The No. 10 seeded Coyotes (27-5, 17-1 Summit) will play No. 7 Ole Miss (23-8, 10-8 SEC) in Waco at 12:30 p.m. on Friday. Baylor, a No. 2 seed, is the host team for the first two rounds before the winning teams advance to a neutral setting. A game time has not been announced.

The SDSU women were hoping for an at-large selection, but they weren't picked.

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Waco is the next in a series of destinations that South Dakota has been sent to simply by doing what it does: winning.

Sjerven went to Waco last year when the Coyotes were playing in the NCAA tournament in San Antonio. But for a lot of Coyotes, it will be someplace new.

Lamb said she hopes that after two wins, there will be another place new to see.

"I had a little hand tremor for a little while after," Korngable said. "But it's very exciting. Very exciting opportunity to be able to go to the NCAA tournament."

The Coyotes clinched their fourth-straight tournament berth March 8 with a 56-45 win over South Dakota State in the Summit League Tournament championship game. It was South Dakota's third-straight Summit League Tournament championship.

South Dakota was the No. 2 seed in the Summit League Tournament after a loss against the Jackrabbits in the teams' second regular season meeting flipped the NET rankings. But with its Summit League win, the Coyotes reclaimed the spot as the Summit League's premier team. Their three super seniors -- Sjerven, Korngable and Lamb -- all solidified a chance to capture an NCAA tournament win they sought when they returned this season.

Within 15 minutes of the selection, coach Dawn Plitzuweit was handed a sheet of Ole Miss statistics by associate head coach Jason Jeschke. The Coyotes had a list of around 20 teams they already had film on, Plitzuweit said. It was speculation to get a mix of possible No. 6-to-No. 8 seeds per tournament projections and "hope you picked one of the 20," she said.

Beyond that, there wasn't much preparation the team could do until now. Lamb, Sjerven and Korngable each said they have seen an Ole Miss game recently. Plitzuweit can't watch much SEC basketball, either.

And she can't rely much on her SEC coaching connections around this time of year. It takes about four or five hours to clip a game for a film session.

"I don't know if I have 15 hours before we practice tomorrow," Plitzuweit said.

But, she said, she expects her staff will be efficient. They'll just need coffee.

No matter what happens in the next week, Plitzuweit has never experienced a selection show like this. When the Coyotes were announced in the final game on the bracket, Lamb and some teammates starting leaping in preparation for the watch party to be shown on the ESPN broadcast. But ESPN cut away without showing them.

The whole arena let out a collective growl. Plitzuweit grabbed the microphone connected to the overhead speakers. She told the cameras to gather around.

"This is going to be big time," she blared.

She sat back in her chair and counted down, "Two, one... South Dakota!"

The fans and players stood and cheered loudly again. Televised or not, Sunday was a celebration. South Dakota's going to the NCAA tournament again.

Follow Sioux Falls Argus Leader reporter Michael McCleary on Twitter @mikejmccleary.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: NCAA Women's Tournament: South Dakota will play Ole Miss in opener