FARGO, N.D. – The IUPUI women’s basketball team held North Dakota State in check in the first half, but the Bison’s Abby Plucker, who entered the game ranked second in Summit League-only games in scoring, caught fire and scored 16 of her game-high 24 points in the second half leading NDSU to a 76-48 win over the Jaguars Saturday evening at Bison Sports Arena.

“I thought we played really well defensively in the first half, holding them to 28 percent shooting,” said head coach Austin Parkinson. “In the second half they wanted it more and shot 54 percent from the field and that is something we can’t allow if we are going to win on the road.”

Two players scored in double figures for IUPUI, led by #Dawn Luster’s# career-high 13 points, all of which were scored in the second half. Luster hit a career-high three 3-pointers, while IUPUI’s top three-point shooter, Shea Collins, was the other double-figure scorer with 10 points.

“Dawn really competed and I liked the fact she was aggressive until the end,” Parkinson added. “We’ve been telling her in practice to be more aggressive and she definitely was our best player at attacking their defense tonight.”

In the first half, the Jags found themselves in foul trouble throughout the half and the Bison reached the bonus before the midway point of the half.

Despite piling up the fouls, IUPUI held NDSU to 17.6 percent shooting from the floor over the first 12 minutes of the game leaving the score tied at 14.

North Dakota State was able to jump out to a five-point lead, 21-16, but a Collins trey followed by an offensive put back by Clara Mitchell kept IUPUI within two points, 23-21, with 3:19 remaining.

In the final minute of the half, a Danielle DeGagne layup pushed the Bison lead to seven points, but an easy two by Jasmine Horne with 34 seconds to play sent IUPUI into halftime trailing by five points, 30-25, despite being outscored at the free throw line, 10-0, in the opening 20 minutes.

Coming out of the half, Luster scored IUPUI’s first eight points, highlighted by a pair of 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions, but Plucker responded scoring nine of NDSU’s 12 points over the first five minutes pushing the North Dakota State lead to nine points, 42-33.

The next six minutes changed the game with North Dakota State going on an 18-0 run expanding their cushion to 60-33 with nine minutes left.

The lengthy NDSU run blew the game open and IUPUI ultimately fell to NDSU, 76-48.

North Dakota State outrebounded IUPUI 53-32, which included 21 offensive rebounds. The 21 offensive rebounds led to 17 second-chance points. NDSU concluded the game connecting on 18-of-25 free throws, compared to 2-of-4 for the Jags.

“At the end of the day we have to defend for 40 minutes, not 20,” Parkinson said. “We just have to go back, regroup, and we need to play defense and rebound on Monday at South Dakota State.”

The Jaguars will next head to Brookings, S.D., where they will meet the Jackrabbits of South Dakota State at 8 p.m. EST on Monday, Feb. 14.