INDIANAPOLIS – In a game that came down to the final minute, a lay-up by Western Illinois’ Rebecca Henricson with 41 seconds to play put the Leathernecks ahead by one point and the IUPUI women’s basketball team was unable to convert a pair of game-winning opportunities as it dropped a 51-50 Summit League decision Friday afternoon at The Jungle.

The loss dropped the Jags to 3-9 overall and 1-2 in league play, while WIU improved to 4-9 overall and 1-2 in conference action.

“In the final minutes it’s about getting stops defensively and we were unable to do that today,” said head coach Austin Parkinson. “I’m disappointed with the loss, but this is the first time this season we have been in that situation. Hopefully we can learn something from this late-game situation to help us execute better under pressure in the future.”

The loss spoiled a career-high 24-point effort from Shea Collins, who single-handedly kept the Jaguars in the game in the first half. Collins scored 15 of her 24 points in the first half and totaled a career-best seven treys in defeat.

“During our break, Shea was really aggressive in practice and she has been in attack mode,” Parkinson added. “Tonight she stretched the defense and shot 50 percent from three, but she also played well on the defensive end. She has given us a perimeter threat and she stepped up and made big shots for us tonight.”

Both teams combined to commit more turnovers than points in the opening 13 minutes of the game, before the scoring began to pick up.

Collins, who scored 12 of the first 14 IUPUI points, hit a trey in the final minute of the opening stanza to pull the Jags within one point, 20-19, before Jasmine Horne beat the buzzer with a floater in the lane with one second on the clock to give IUPUI a 21-20 halftime edge, its first lead of the game.

Out of the half, both teams shrugged off their shooting woes and began to get hot from the floor.

By the 8:34 mark of the second half, both teams had already matched the combined scoring output of the first half as IUPUI held on to its one-point lead, 42-41.

Two buckets in the paint by Kerah Nelson and a floater by Horne widened the Jags lead to five points, 48-43, with 4:25 remaining, before the Leathernecks mounted a charge.

In the final minutes, IUPUI got some good looks but were only able to score on a Horne lay-up with 2:20 to play. During the final 1:08, two free throws by Brittany Demery closed the Leathernecks deficit to one point, before Henricson’s back-door lay-up gave Western Illinois its first lead since the final minute of the first half.

WIU had an opportunity with under 10 seconds to expand its lead when Demery went to the charity stripe for a 1-and-1, but she missed the front end giving IUPUI a chance to claim the victory.

With two fouls to give, the Leathernecks used both fouls in the final six seconds, but the Jags still had five-tenths of a second to get a shot off. However, on the inbounds pass, WIU tapped the pass away preserving its one-point win.

Despite connecting on seven more treys than the Leathernecks, free throws came back to hurt the Jags. IUPUI connected on just 40 percent (4-of-10) of its free throws, while WIU connected on 12-of-20 attempts from the line.

In addition to Collins’ career night, Horne was the other Jags player to finish in double figures with 10 points.

Junior Kayle Cripe saw her first action of the season for IUPUI and posted one rebound and one assist in four minutes of action.