Coach Ryun Williams

VERMILLION, S.D. -- University of South Dakota women's basketball coach Ryun Williams has announced the Coyotes' 2010-11 schedule. The season will be highlighted by 13 home games plus trips to Kansas, Minnesota, Colorado State and Wisconsin-Green Bay.

USD, entering the third year of its Division I transition, will face two teams who qualified for the NCAA tournament in 2009-10 (Wisconsin-Green Bay and Northern Iowa) as well.

"We are very excited about this season's schedule," Williams said. "It is one that will provide great challenge as well as great opportunity. It will be nice to have some attractive home games in the DakotaDome for our players and fans."

The Coyotes will open the season with a pair of road games, starting Nov. 12 at Northern Colorado and on Nov. 14 Kansas of the Big 12 Conference.

The Coyotes' 2010-11 home opener is against Jamestown College on Nov. 17. From there, USD heads to the Minnesota tournament for two games on Nov. 20-21, with the opponents yet to be determined.

USD will then return to the DakotaDome for the start of a four-game homestand on Nov. 23 against Upper Iowa. The Coyotes will follow that with games against Division I foes Santa Clara (Nov. 30), Creighton (Dec. 2) and Wichita State (Dec. 5). It will be USD's first game against Creighton since the 1986-87 season.

The Coyotes will then play consecutive games on the road, starting at Northern Iowa on Dec. 7 and at Northern Arizona of the Big Sky Conference on Dec. 9.

USD is back in Vermillion on Dec. 13 to face Tabor College, and then will face Cal-State Northridge on Dec. 18. The Coyotes conclude their pre-Christmas schedule with a game at Colorado State on Dec. 20.

The Coyotes resume after Christmas at Wisconsin-Green Bay of the Horizon League on Dec. 28, which is the second game in a straight of five consecutive road games for USD. The Coyotes cap off that road swing with contests at Cornell (Jan. 6), at SIU Edwardsville (Jan. 9) and North Dakota (Jan. 15). The game at North Dakota will mark the beginning of the Great West Conference campaign for USD.

USD will play home-and-home games with North Dakota, Houston Baptist, Texas-Pan American, Chicago State, New Jersey Institute of Technology and Utah Valley throughout the months of January, February and March. The Great West tournament is set for March 9-12 in Orem, Utah.

USD is entering its third season under Williams, who has compiled a 35-27 record in his first two seasons.