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INDIANAPOLIS -- A month ago, the IUPUI women's basketball team lost by 20 points at North Dakota State. On Saturday, it was the Jaguars turn to "bite the Bison," as the Jags won, 63-41, on Saturday at The Jungle, creating a tie for third place in The Summit League.
IUPUI (12-11, 7-5 Summit) stifled North Dakota State (9-11, 7-5 Summit) throughout the first half, limiting the Bison to just 7-for-29 shooting. Conversely, the Jaguars were able to establish
Julia Whitted early in the game, as the 6-foot-5 center went 4-for-8 in the opening 20 minutes.
"We knew coming into today's game that we needed to establish ourselves on the inside," head coach Shann Hart said. "That we were able to get the ball to Julia [Whitted] and Jernisha [Cann] early helped open up the outside, and we knocked down some jumpers."
While Whitted was working the interior,
Brykeesha Tate and
Nicole James kept the Bison from collapsing on the junior, each hitting three field goals in the half. Tate hit a three from the wing to answer an early NDSU triple, giving the Jaguars a 14-12 lead they would not relinquish.
Tate's strike from downtown began a 21-6 run that gave IUPUI a 15-point halftime advantage. Defensively, the Jaguars clamped down in the last 5:17 of the half, not allowing North Dakota State a single point over the last quarter of the half.
"Defensively, I think we're starting to grasp what we're supposed to be doing. We're a young team outside of Cann, Tate and Whitted, so it took us a while to fully understand how to communicate and execute our sets. Now, we're starting to play defensively the way I hoped we would at the beginning of the season."
North Dakota State threatened by scoring the first five points of the second half, forcing head coach Shann Hart into an early timeout. Though the Bison would close within 10 on two occasions, IUPUI answered each time, the first coming when
Kiara Butler knocked down a jumper from the wing to put the Jags up 12 after Hart's timeout.
The second time, Tate got the ball into the Whitted on the post, and the lefty spun and hit a short jumper to put IUPUI up, 38-26, with 13:37 remaining. IUPUI's lead hovered between 12 and 17 for most of the half, until late, when an 8-0 burst put the Jaguars up 25 with under a minute to play.
Though North Dakota State shot 37-percent in the second half, IUPUI held the Bison to just 30.4-percent shooting for the game.
"About a month and a half ago, I'm not sure we win a game when [Jernisha] Cann is shooting the ball so poorly," Hart said. "That we did today speaks to how we've come together over the last month or so. I know that I'd rather have her play poorly tonight than on Monday [versus South Dakota State]."
Though Cann went 1-for-10 from the field, she still led all players with 14 rebounds and came away with a game-high 3 steals.
The slack was picked up by James and Tate; James utilized her slashing skills to finish with 15 points, going 6-for-8 from the free-throw line. Tate had 13 points in the game while dishing out a game-high 8 assists and committing no turnovers. The Arsenal Tech-product had half of IUPUI's 16 assists, and the Jaguars had just 9 turnovers in the game.
It was the second straight contest in which the Jags had less than 10 turnovers - they have won both contests.
The Jaguars moved to 7-1 in the friendly confines of The Jungle and are 5-1 during Summit League play.
IUPUI will host #20/24 (USA Today-ESPN Coaches/AP Poll) South Dakota State on Monday, Feb. 9. Tip-off from The Jungle is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET. It will be the second straight season in which the Jaguars will host a nationally ranked opponent and just the third time in school history.
