Coyote coach and mom Kayla Karius returns to the sidelines for Summit League tourney win

Mar. 10—SIOUX FALLS — The plan has been in place for months for South Dakota women's basketball coach Kayla Karius.

Pregnant with a baby and with a due date around the Summit League tournament, two big parts of the Coyote coach's life were converging at the same time. But when daughter Wynn arrived on Monday, the timing lined up to allow Karius to return to the bench for Sunday's game.

And she wasn't going to miss it.

"You've been working toward this for so long, and you start talking about last June since this team got on campus and our staff has been building this program and adding pieces since last spring," Karius said after a 70-57 win Sunday in the quarterfinals over St. Thomas. "It's all culminating right now, and it's a big life event. I thank the Lord that things went perfectly, and I have a healthy baby. And this group is really special. ... You want to be there for them.

As the regular season wrapped up, Karius did not travel to the final three road games of the year as the baby's due date drew closer. Assistant coach Mike Jewett has been serving as acting head coach in that time, and Karius credited her assistant coaches and team for handling the changes and being committed to "keep this train rolling."

"Clearly it wasn't a surprise that this was all coming and it was coming at the same moment of the tournament," Karius said. "I haven't been traveling for the last month of the season, so not being on the bench was becoming more and more comfortable. We worked out some of those kinks."

On Sunday, Jewett handled the standing duties along the sideline, while Karius did plenty of directing to her team from the literal edge of her seat on the Coyote bench, while also handling the interview responsibilities with television during the game and meeting with the media following the contest.

New daughter Wynn is the third child for Karius and her husband, Rick, joining son Treyton. Son Macklin died in 2021 shortly after his birth due to a birth defect.

Believe it or not, there is some new ground to be covered on Monday when South Dakota and South Dakota State meet for the ninth time in the last 12 Summit League tournaments.

For one, think about how much has changed with both teams' rosters since the last Sioux Falls meeting between SDSU and USD, a 56-45 championship victory by the Coyotes. Of the 17 players to participate in that game, only two will be on the court on Monday afternoon for the semifinals.

USD played nine players in that game and star junior Grace Larkins is the only player still on the team that eventually played in the Sweet 16. Of course, the coaching staff led by Dawn Plitzuweit then has since changed over as well. SDSU's Tori Nelson is the only returning starter, and while Haleigh Timmer and Kallie Theisen both played extensive minutes, they are out for the season for the Jacks with injuries.

"It's great to bring up the Sweet 16 and everything with that, but we don't have a lot of players who participated in that conference tournament or the NCAA tournament. They were a part of it, but as far as minutes on the floor, significant minutes, that really wasn't there," Karius said.

Karius said a win on Sunday was a good "mile marker" for the Coyotes (21-11) to build confidence before a matchup with the top-seeded Jackrabbits (25-5).

"You step out on the court (Monday), and you already feel different than you did (Sunday)," Karius said. "There was a lot of settling in (Sunday), with the offensive side it looked like it. (Monday), you've already achieved that win. You're looking forward to your next opponent, and they will definitely get up for that."

On Saturday, South Dakota State coach Aaron Johnston felt some of those same feelings after a win over Omaha in the first round, grateful for a victory with a young team that has been challenged by injuries and players learning new roles.

"We hung in there and played really tough when things maybe weren't coming easy, and hopefully that can be a good sign for how we can continue to move forward," Johnston said on Saturday.

It will be the ninth time since USD joined the conference in 2012-13 that the two in-state rivals have met in the Summit League tournament, with SDSU holding a 5-3 edge in Sioux Falls in the postseason. Seven SDSU-USD meetings have been in the conference title game.

In terms of the conference tournament, it's become rare for the two teams to meet at a time other than the Tuesday title game. It will be the first such meeting since 2014, when USD became the first team to knock off the Jacks after SDSU won five straight tournament titles and its first 15 games in a row in Sioux Falls.

SDSU has won 19 games in a row and claimed the first two matchups this season, winning by 18 in Brookings and by 15 in Vermillion.

"This is what we've been pushing for all season, and we just need to be locked in on defense. South Dakota State is a great team, so we just have to play together and play Coyote basketball," Larkins said.