Box Score

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The IUPUI women’s basketball team hung close to the No. 16 University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish through the opening 10 minutes, but a late first-half surge by the Irish sunk the Jaguars and sent IUPUI to a 95-29 loss in its opener of the 2010 WBCA Classic.

“I thought in the first 10 minutes we did a good job of keeping the pace where we wanted it and we executed our game plan,” said head coach Austin Parkinson. “After that, I think their length, depth, and overall size got to us. But at the end of the day I thought we did a good job of competing.”

Over the first three games, the Jaguars limited their turnovers and committed just 15 in their last outing. However, Notre Dame forced IUPUI into 35 turnovers resulting in 42 points off turnovers for the Fighting Irish.

The Jaguars struggled from the floor in the opening minutes of the game and the Irish connected on five of their first seven shots to take a 10-0 lead just four minutes in. IUPUI got on the board with a Kerah Nelson lay-up with 15:33 to play, and the Jags stayed within striking distance over the next five minutes. Nelson connected on another lay-up, Janna Eichelberger buried a 3-pointer from the corner, 
Gretchen Gaskin converted an old-fashioned three-point play, and Demetria Nunley-Lash hit a free throw that pulled IUPUI within seven points, 18-11, with 10:28 remaining.

From that point, the Irish overwhelmed the Jaguars and closed the first half on a 23-2 run to take a 41-13 lead into the intermission.

IUPUI continued to fight in the second half and Nunley-Lash and Horne combined to score 11 points in the second half, but the Irish cruised to the 95-29 victory.

“I thought Demetria [Nunley-Lash]played hard against a much taller defender.She finished with seven rebounds, the most in her career, and she was aggressive taking the ball to the basket,” Parkinson said.

Nunley-Lash and Jasmine Horne each posted seven points in the loss, while Nunley-Lash’s seven rebounds were the second most among all players behind the Irish’s Erica Sullivan, who grabbed 12 boards.

Devereaux Peters led all scorers with 18 points.