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INDIANAPOLIS - IUPUI and Eastern Illinois will play for the first time since the 2005 season when they square off in non-conference action on Saturday, Dec. 17, at 7 p.m. at The Jungle.
 
SCOUTING THE PANTHERS

• Eastern Illinois heads into the holiday break with a 6-2 record on the season, and both of its losses have come by a combined six points at Sacramento State and at Missouri.
• EIU has three players scoring in double figures, led by Ta’Kenya Nixon’s 14.8 ppg and Mariah King’s 14.3 ppg.
• King also leads the team in rebounding snatching 8.3 rpg. As a team, the Panthers are outrebounding their opponents 45.6 to 35.4.
• Eastern Illinois is shooting 44.2 percent from the floor on the season, compared to 36.3 percent for its opponents, and owns a turnover margin of +3.0 on the season.

 
ALL-TIME SERIES AGAINST EASTERN ILLINOIS

• Saturday’s meeting against the Panthers is the fifth meeting between the two programs with the series being tied at 2-2.
• EIU won the last meeting, 70-63, in overtime on Dec. 17, 2005.
• The series is tied at 1-1 when played in Indianapolis.

 
A LOOK BACK AT THE LAST GAME

• Kerah Nelson scored 25 points and Dawn Luster added 15 points, but two free throws by Indiana’s Sasha Chaplin with four seconds to play sent the Hoosiers to a 65-64 victory in an entertaining game from start to finish Sunday afternoon (Dec. 11) at The Jungle.
• Nelson, who went a perfect 12-of-12 from the line en route to her season-high 25 points, had a chance to send the Jags to a victory, but her desperation jumper missed as time expired.
• Luster, who was hampered by an ankle injury early in the season, played her finest game as a Jaguar pouring in a career-high 15 points giving the Jags some much-needed scoring with their second and third leading scorers going a combined 1-for-17 from the floor.
• IUPUI got off to a fast start recording five assists on five made field goals as it took a 10-8 lead into the first media timeout.
• Throughout the opening 10 minutes, Indiana stayed in the game thanks to the offense of Jasmine McGhee, who scored 10 of IU’s first 14 points as the Hoosiers took their first lead of the game, 14-13, with 11:34 to play.
• Luster then did her part to keep the Jags within striking distance scoring IUPUI’s next seven points to keep the score knotted at 20, until back-to-back old-fashioned three-point plays highlighted a 7-0 IU run pushing it on top, 27-20 with five minutes to play.
• The Hoosiers widened their lead to as many as 11 points with 37 seconds remaining in the opening half, but Emily Phillips got an easy bucket in transition in the final ten seconds sending the Jaguars into the half trailing, 36-27.
• Out of the break, Indiana extended its lead back to 11 three minutes in, before Luster kick started a furious rally.
• Luster drilled consecutive treys, with the first occurring at 16:22, spurring a 14-5 run that trimmed the Jaguars deficit to two points, 46-48, with 11 minutes remaining.
• During the rally, the Jaguars aggressiveness on the offensive end in the floor put the Hoosiers in foul trouble and IUPUI found itself in the 1-and-1 bonus at the nine-minute mark. By the under-eight minute media timeout, the Jags deficit was trimmed to one point, 51-50, and the Jaguars had seized the momentum.
• Two Nelson free throws at the 7:26 mark gave IUPUI its first lead since leading 15-14, and signaled the beginning of seven consecutive lead changes until a #Del’Niqua Bellamy# lay-up pushed the Jags in front by three points, 60-57, heading into the under-four minute media timeout.
• IU made a final push and regained a 63-62 lead with 28 seconds to play, before Nelson used an up-and-under move with 14 seconds on the clock to put IUPUI back in front, 64-63.
• The see-saw battle continued to the horn and in the final seconds, Sasha Chaplin rebounded an Andrea Newbauer missed free throw and was fouled. She proceeded to go to the line and hit both of her free throws catapulting IU back on top, 65-64.
• Following a timeout called by Parkinson, Nelson went coast-to-coast off the inbounds and got to the elbow, but her jumper missed as time expired giving Indiana the one-point win.
• Phillips led all players with a season-high nine assists, while Bellamy posted a career-best six steals in the loss. Clara Mitchell also gave the Jags some valuable minutes scoring nine points and grabbing eight boards.

 
CASHING IN ON FREE THROWS

• Against Indiana, Kerah Nelson led IUPUI in scoring with 25 points, but Nelson did most of her damage from the free throw line.
• Nelson hit all 12 of her free throw attempts against the Hoosiers, making her the first player in over seven years to go perfect from the line for a game attempting a minimum of 10 shots.
• The last IUPUI player to achieve the feat was Karima Davies, who went 10-of-10 against Eastern Illinois on Dec. 4, 2004.
• Nelson started the season 10-of-18 from the line, has hit her last 20 free throws after going 4-of-4 against South Dakota State and Southern Illinois before hitting all 12 against Indiana.
• Nelson’s last missed free throw was against North Dakota State on Nov. 30.

 
FACILITATING THE OFFENSE

• Emily Phillips is in her first season with IUPUI after sitting out last season due to NCAA transfer rules.
• As the team’s point guard, Phillips struggled taking care of the ball committing 18 turnovers while dishing out just 11 assists in the team’s first four games.
• However, over the last six games that trend has gone through a 180-degree transformation.
• Since taking on Kansas, Phillips has posted 30 assists compared to just 13 turnovers, including dishing out a season-high nine assists against four turnovers in the team’s last outing against Indiana.
• On the season, she now owns an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.32 and leads the team in assists averaging 4.1 apg.
• Her assist-to-turnover ratio dating back to Nov. 26 is 2.31 (30 assists to 13 turnovers).

 
DAWN RISES TO THE OCCASION

• Dawn Luster suffered an ankle injury during the opening game of the season and after missing two games following the injury, Luster has played in the Jags last seven games.
• Despite playing in those seven games, Luster appeared to remain hampered by her injury, before putting forth the best performance of her career against Indiana.
• In the five games prior to the IU game, Luster combined to score just 16 points.
• Then Luster hit 5-of-10 attempts from the floor en route to a career-high 15 points against the Hoosiers. Luster also tied a season-high with four rebounds and two made three’s.
• Over the last two games, Luster is averaging 12.0 ppg, 2.5 rpg, and 1.0 spg.

 
WINS VS. LOSSES

• A third of the way through the season, the Jaguars four wins have come at home or on a neutral court, while four of its six losses have come on the road.
• In its wins this season, the Jaguars are shooting 44.1 percent from the floor compared to 30.8 percent in its losses. However, the poor shooting in losses may have something to do with shot selection.
• When subtracting 3-point attempts, IUPUI is connecting on 47.1 percent of its shots inside-the-arc in its wins compared to 35.1 percent of its attempts in losses.
• Two other noticeable factors for IUPUI this season are its assists and rebounding.
• Part of the reason for IUPUI’s better shooting inside the arc in wins is due to an increase in assists. In wins, IUPUI averages 15.3 assists per game compared to only 11.7 apg in losses.
• In wins, the Jags have at least matched their opponents on the glass grabbing 36.2 rpg against 35.8 rpg.
• However, in losses the Jaguars are being outrebounded, 46.5 to 34.0. (-12.5 margin).

 
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES

• At this point last season, the Jags owned a record of 3-7, one game worse than IUPUI’s 4-6 record this season.
• However, while only one win separates IUPUI’s last two squads, the Jaguars are a much more efficient team.
• When looking at the 2010-11 squad, the Jags were scoring 53.5 ppg and were being outscored by an average of 11.9 points.
• IUPUI also only had one player, Kerah Nelson, scoring in double figures as she averaged 11.5 ppg through the first third of the season.
• This season, IUPUI’s scoring is up to 58.4 ppg and it is scoring margin is down from 11.9 ppg a year ago to -3.6 this season.
• The Jaguars also have a more balanced scoring attack as three players are scoring in double figures in Nelson, Katie Comello, and Nevena Markovic.
• However, the biggest discrepancy is turnovers. Last season, IUPUI was turning the ball over an average of 22.3 times per game and this season that number is down to 15.7.