South Dakota’s March Madness success elicits statewide pride

By ERIC OLSON
AP Sports Writer

The South Dakota women’s basketball team’s run to the NCAA Sweet 16 has elicited pride border to border in the sparsely populated state. Many fans are expected in Wichita, Kansas, for the game between the 10th-seeded Coyotes and No. 3 seed Michigan on Saturday. South Dakota has an enrollment of just under 11,000, and its campus is in the small town of Vermillion in the state’s southeast corner. University president Sheila Gestring said the success has created buzz in the tight-knit Coyote Nation. Four players are from the state and eight others are from Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa.