# 2021–22 Summit League women's basketball season

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.

## Pre-season
### Recruiting classes

Rankings :
| Team | ESPN |
| Denver | — |
| 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.
| Wooden | Naismith | Lieberman | Drysdale | Miller | McClain | Leslie | Wade |
| Myah Selland – South Dakota State | Myah Selland – South Dakota State Hannah 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 |
| Name | School | 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

| Name | School | 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.
| Wooden | Naismith | Liberman | Drysdale | Miller | McClain | Leslie | Wade |

### Final watchlists

Below is a table of notable year end watch lists.
| Wooden | Naismith | Liberman | Drysdale | Miller | McClain | Leslie | 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):
| Power 7 Conferences | Record |
| American | 1–5 |
| ACC | 1–1 |
| Big East | 3–3 |
| Big Ten | 0–3 |
| Big 12 | 0–7 |
| Pac-12 | 1–1 |
| SEC | 0–3 |
| Power 7 Conferences Total | 6–23 |
| Other NCAA Division 1 Conferences | Record |
| America East | 0–0 |
| A-10 | 0–1 |
| ASUN | 1–0 |
| Big Sky | 3–5 |
| Big South | 0–1 |
| Big West | 1–2 |
| CAA | 0–0 |
| C-USA | 0–2 |
| Horizon | 4–1 |
| Ivy League | 1–0 |
| MAAC | 1–0 |
| MAC | 1–0 |
| MEAC | 1–0 |
| MVC | 6–5 |
| Mountain West | 1–6 |
| NEC | 0–0 |
| OVC | 3–0 |
| Patriot League | 0–1 |
| SoCon | 0–0 |
| Southland | 1–1 |
| SWAC | 1–0 |
| Sun Belt | 3–0 |
| WAC | 6–1 |
| WCC | 1–0 |
| Other Division I Total | 35–26 |
| Division II Total | 2–0 |
| Division III Total | 3–0 |
| NCAA Division I Total | 41–49 |
| NAIA Conferences | Record |
| AMC | 1–0 |
| GPAC | 4–0 |
| HAAC | 1–0 |
| Independent | 1–0 |
| NSAA | 2–0 |
| SAC | 2–0 |
| NAIA Total | 11–0 |
| Power 7 Conferences | Record |
| American | 0–0 |
| ACC | 0–0 |
| Big East | 1–0 |
| Big Ten | 1–1 |
| Big 12 | 1–0 |
| Pac-12 | 1–0 |
| SEC | 2–0 |
| Power 7 Conferences Total | 6–1 |
| Other NCAA Division 1 Conferences | Record |
| America East | 0–0 |
| A-10 | 0–0 |
| ASUN | 0–0 |
| Big Sky | 0–0 |
| Big South | 0–0 |
| Big West | 0–0 |
| CAA | 0–0 |
| C-USA | 0–0 |
| Horizon | 0–0 |
| Ivy League | 0–0 |
| MAAC | 0–0 |
| MAC | 1–0 |
| MEAC | 0–0 |
| MVC | 1–1 |
| Mountain West | 0–0 |
| NEC | 0–0 |
| OVC | 0–0 |
| Patriot League | 0–0 |
| SoCon | 0–0 |
| Southland | 0–0 |
| SWAC | 0–0 |
| Sun Belt | 0–0 |
| WAC | 0–0 |
| WCC | 0–0 |
| Other 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 Dakota | North 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

| Team | For | Against | Difference |
| Denver | ― | ― | ― |
| 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 ranking |
| RV | Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 |
| NV | No votes received |
| | | Pre | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | Wk 5 | Wk 6 | Wk 7 | Wk 8 | Wk 9 | Wk 10 | Wk 11 |
| Denver | AP | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV |
| Denver | C | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Kansas City | AP | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV |
| Kansas City | C | | | | | | | | | | | |
| North Dakota | AP | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV |
| North Dakota | C | | | | | | | | | | | |
| North Dakota State | AP | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV |
| North Dakota State | C | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Omaha | AP | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV |
| Omaha | C | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Oral Roberts | AP | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV |
| Oral Roberts | C | | | | | | | | | | | |
| St. Thomas | AP | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV |
| St. Thomas | C | | | | | | | | | | | |
| South Dakota | AP | RV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | RV |
| South Dakota | C | | | | | | | | | | | |
| South Dakota State | AP | RV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV |
| South Dakota State | C | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Western Illinois | AP | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV |
| Western Illinois | C | | | | | | | | | | | |

## Head coaches
### 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 Championships |
| Denver | Doshia Woods | Tulane (recruiting coordinator) | 2nd | 7–16 (.304) | 5–9 (.357) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kansas City | Jacie Hoyt | Kansas State (assistant) | 5th | 58–56 (.509) | 7–8 (.467) † | 0 | 0 ♠ | 0 | 0 |
| North Dakota | Mallory Bernhard | North Dakota (assistant) | 2nd | 2–19 (.095) | 2–13 (.133) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| North Dakota State | Jory Collins | Kansas (assistant) | 3rd | 26–28 (.481) | 16-16 (.500) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Omaha | Carrie Banks | Ohio State (assistant) | 2nd | 7–13 (.350) | 4–8 (.333) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Oral Roberts | Misti Cussen | Oral Roberts (assistant) | 10th | 129–137 (.485) | 56–50 (.528) ‡ | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| St. Thomas | Ruth Sinn | Apple Valley HS | 17th | 356–88 (.802) | 0–0 (–) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| South Dakota | Dawn Plitzuweit | Northern Kentucky | 6th | 129–30 (.811) | 66–9 (.880) | 2 | 2 ♠ | 0 | 0 |
| South Dakota State | Aaron Johnston | South Dakota State (assistant) | 22nd | 513–170 (.751) | 193–35 (.846) | 9 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Western Illinois | JD Gravina | Quincy | 11th | 156–146 (.517) | 83–73 (.532) | 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

## Post season
### 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.
| Quarterfinals March 5 & 6 MidcoSN/ESPN+ | Quarterfinals March 5 & 6 MidcoSN/ESPN+ | Quarterfinals March 5 & 6 MidcoSN/ESPN+ | Semifinals March 7 MidcoSN/ESPN+ | Semifinals March 7 MidcoSN/ESPN+ | Semifinals March 7 MidcoSN/ESPN+ | Championship March 8 ESPNU | Championship March 8 ESPNU | Championship March 8 ESPNU |
| 1 | South Dakota State | 86 | | | | | | |
| 8 | Denver | 59 | | | | | | |
| 8 | Denver | 59 | 1 | South Dakota State | 72 | | | |
| | | | 4 | Oral Roberts | 53 | | | |
| 4 | Oral Roberts | 61 | 4 | Oral Roberts | 53 | | | |
| 5 | North Dakota | 54 | | | | | | |
| 5 | North Dakota | 54 | | | | 1 | South Dakota State | 45 |
| | | | | | | 2 | South Dakota | 56 |
| 3 | Kansas City | 81 | | | | | | | 2 | South Dakota | 56 |
| 6 | North Dakota State | 74 | | | | | | |
| 6 | North Dakota State | 74 | 3 | Kansas City | 67 | | | |
| | | | 2 | South Dakota | 81 | | | |
| 2 | South Dakota | 75 | 2 | South Dakota | 81 | | | |
| 7 | Western Illinois | 49 | | | | | | |
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 | defeated No. 7 Ole Miss 75–61 | defeated No. 2 Baylor 61–47 | lost to No. 3 Michigan 49–52 | – | – | – |
| | 1 Bid | W-L (%): | 1–0 (1.000) | 1–0 (1.000) | 0–1 (.000) | 0–0 (–) | 0–0 (–) | TOTAL: 2–1 (.667) |

### 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 Bids | TOTAL W-L (%): 6–1 (.857) | 1–1 (.500) | 1–0 (1.000) | 1–0 (1.000) | 1–0 (1.000) | 1–0 (1.000) | 1–0 (1.000) |
* Index to colors and formatting
* Summit League member won
* Summit 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.
| Week | Player of the Week | School |
| Nov. 15 | Liv Korngable | South Dakota |
| Nov. 22 | Brooklyn McDavid | Kansas City |
| Nov. 29 | Naomie Alnatas | Kansas City |
| Dec 6. | Danni Nichols | Western Illinois |
| Dec 13. | Uju Ezeudu | Denver |
| Dec 20. | Brooklyn McDavid (2) | Kansas City |
| Dec 27. | Paige Meyer | South Dakota State |
| Jan. 3 | Chloe Lamb | South Dakota |
| Jan 10. | Uju Ezeudu (2) | Denver |
| Jan 17. | Kacie Borowicz | North Dakota |
| Jan 24. | Kacie Borowicz (2) | North Dakota |
| Jan. 31 | Naomie Alnatas (2) | Kansas City |
| Feb. 7 | Naomie Alnatas (3) | Kansas City |
| Feb. 14 | Myah Selland | South Dakota State |
| Feb. 21 | Tirzah Moore | Oral Roberts |
| Mar. 1 | Chloe Lamb (2) | South Dakota |
| School | Total |
| Kansas City | 5 |
| South Dakota | 3 |
| Denver | 2 |
| North Dakota | 2 |
| South Dakota State | 2 |
| Oral Roberts | 1 |
| Western 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 |