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INDIANAPOLIS - Despite a career-high 13 points from junior center Clara Mitchell, the Jaguars were unable to find offense late in the game as Butler claimed a 58-50 win over IUPUI at Hinkle Fieldhouse on Wednesday (Dec. 21) afternoon. Devin Brierly led the Bulldogs with 14 points and Haley Howard added 12 in the win.

The game featured 11 ties and 15 lead changes, but it was the hosts that claimed the final advantage and led for the last 6:22 on the clock on Wednesday.

"Obviously in close games, you've got to be able to pay attention to details and know switches and that kind of thing. We gambled on a play on their best shooter and they buried a three and it ended up being a four-point lead," IUPUI head coach Austin Parkinson said. "Four points seemed like about 10 points.

"After that, we unraveled a little bit at the offensive end and it was probably the difference in the game."

IUPUI (4-8) was down just 50-48 with 4:46 to play after Dawn Luster hit a tough runner in traffic, prompting a timeout by Parkinson to give his troops a quick breather and set the defense. Defensively, the Jaguars forced three straight empty Butler (4-7) trips, but was unable to get over the hump and find a bucket at the other end. Mitchell missed a potential game-tying layup with under three minutes to play and the Bulldogs capitalized when a blown assignment lead to a Howard 18-footer from the top of the key to push the lead to four.

Once again, Parkinson's squad missed a pair of chances as freshman Nevena Markovic came up empty on a clean look at a wing three off an out of bounds play with 2:18 left. After Butler missed a trey of its own, Markovic turned the ball over in front of the Jaguars bench on the ensuing possession. With IUPUI forced to foul, Butler hit 6-of-8 free throws down the stretch to seal up the win.

Luster finally broke the cold spell with another runner with 58.3 seconds to play, but it was too little, too late.

Kerah Nelson led the Jaguars with 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting and tied Mitchell with a game-high nine boards. Mitchell made 5-of-10 attempts and grabbed six of her nine boards off the offensive glass. Aside from Nelson, Mitchell and Luster, the rest of the IUPUI roster combined to make just 3-of-23 shots and score nine points. Despite going 0-for-8 from the floor, sophomore Katie Comello had a superb floor game with five boards and a team-high five assists and four steals.

"(Clara) was unbelievable tonight," Parkinson said. "That's probably the best performance of her career. The way she rebounded and tried to move - she got some rebounds outside of her area and was smart about it.

"If we can get that kind of effort from and from some of our other post players, we're going to be good in conference."

IUPUI was limited to just 36.8 percent from the floor and 1-of-12 (8.3 percent) from beyond the arc. Butler didn't fare much better as the hosts made just 36.2 percent from the floor and 3-of-23 (13 percent) from deep. The Bulldogs outscored IUPUI 13-7 at the charity stripe to help offset the Jaguars' 39-36 rebounding advantage.

In the first half, IUPUI had a six-point lead at 23-17 with 5:38 left after Nelson swished a short jumper. Butler countered with a 9-2 run to take a 26-25 advantage, fueled by a Brierly trey and two buckets by Amanda Raker. The Jaguars tallied just one field goal over the final five minutes of the first half, but used three Comello free throws to help get to the lockerroom tied at 28.

The loss extended the Jaguars' road losing streak to 32 and dropped IUPUI to 7-16 all-time against the Bulldogs.

After a lengthy break for the Christmas holiday, IUPUI will return to action on Wednesday (Dec. 28) when they host Marygrove College inside the Jungle. Tipoff is slated for 7:00 p.m. Eastern and the broadcast can be heard on IUPUIJags.com as Scott McCauley (pxp) calls the action, beginning at approximately 6:50 p.m..