BROOKINGS, S.D. - A four-day, two-game road trip comes to an end on Monday, Feb. 14, when IUPUI moves on to Brookings, S.D., to take on South Dakota State at 8 p.m. EST in Frost Arena. Scott Taylor will have the call on IUPUIJags.com beginning at 7:55 p.m. 

·         The Jaguars close out the home portion of the 2010-11 season with a pair of home game on Feb. 19 and 21. IUPUI hosts UMKC on Feb. 19, before welcoming Southern Utah on Feb. 21, which will be the Jags Pink Zone game and Senior Night.

·         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.

·         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.

·         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.

·         SDSU comes in to Monday’s game as winners of seven of their last 10 games, including a 67-61 win over IUPUI on Jan. 15 in The Jungle.

·         All three of the Jackrabbits losses during that stretch have come against the top three teams in the league, with two of those games going to overtime.

·         In their last outing, SDSU cruised to a 65-40 win over Western Illinois.

·         Jennie Sunnarborg is one of three players scoring in double figures, leading the way at 14.1 ppg.

·         Kristin Rotert and Jill Young are the other two players scoring in double figures, averaging 13.0 ppg and 10.6 ppg, respectively.

·         In league-only play, Young is ranked second in made 3-point field goals per game (2.6), and is third in free throw shooting (.833), while Rotert is second in 3-point field goal percentage (.485).

·         As a unit, SDSU is second in defensive field goal percentage, limiting its opponents to 39.0 percent shooting and 61.7 ppg.

·         A few reasons for their success in conference have been their 3-point shooting and the way they defend the three. The Jackrabbits are first in 3-point shooting at .394, while holding their opponents to .304 shooting from deep, which is second in league-only games.

Below is where IUPUI players rank among the Top 10 in Summit League statistical categories through games on Feb. 13 (overall/conference):

·         On Monday, Feb. 21, IUPUI’s two seniors, Gretchen Gaskin and Laura Blaydes, will be playing their final game in front of the home fans at The Jungle on Senior Night.

·         Prior to the game, both Gaskin and Blaydes will be recognized for their hard work and contributions to the program during their careers.

·         In addition to Senior Night, the Feb. 21 game will also be IUPUI’s WBCA Pink Zone Game as IUPUI will be raising awareness for Breast Cancer Research.

·         It typically takes freshmen some time to get acclimated to the college game and the same holds true for Dawn Luster, but over the past five games it looks as she has picked up her game and made the adjustment.

·         On the season, Luster is averaging 4.4 ppg while shooting 33.3 percent from the floor in 20.8 minutes per game.

·         However, over the last five games, Luster is scoring 7.4 ppg on 37.1 percent shooting.

·         More impressively, Luster is shooting 56.3 percent (9-of-16) from three over the last five games, which comes on the heels of shooting 12.5 percent (2-of-16) from three over her first 15 games.

·         However, the most important thing for a point guard is limiting turnovers and since Jan. 18, Luster has posted an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.19 (19 assists to 16 turnovers.).

·         Luster is 15th in the Summit League in assists (2.4) and her 2.7 assists per game in conference play ranks 13th.

·         Since returning to the lineup on Jan. 8 at IPFW, Clara Mitchell has been a steady player for the Jags in the post.

·         On the season, Mitchell is averaging 5.8 ppg and 3.9 rpg, while shooting 47.5 percent from the floor.

·         In Summit League play, those numbers have slightly risen as Mitchell is averaging 6.0 ppg, 4.3 rpg, while shooting 50.0 percent from the field.

·         In the last 10 games, Mitchell has only played more than 25 minutes once, but she has still pulled down five or more rebounds in six of those games and scored seven or more points in five of those 10 outings.

·         During this recent 10-game stretch, Mitchell is averaging 6.2 ppg and 4.6 rpg.

·         Following a one-game absence against Oakland on Jan. 10, sophomore Kerah Nelson has been a bright spot for the Jaguars.

·         Starting with a Jan. 15 decision against South Dakota State, Nelson has scored in double figures in six of her last eight games.

·         Against the Jackrabbits on Jan. 15, Nelson scored 17 points, and followed that performance with a 19-point, six-rebound outing against North Dakota State just two days later.

·         The offensive improvements continued at Southern Utah, when Nelson erupted for a career-high 29 points, surpassing her previous career high of 27 points set earlier this season against IU-Southeast on Nov. 23, 2010.

·         For the fourth straight game, Nelson hit at least seven field goals as she went 7-of-9 from the floor against UMKC on Jan. 24 to score a team-high 15 points.

·         Following her scoreless output on Jan. 29 at Western Illinois, Nelson responded in a big way scoring 20 points and grabbing nine rebounds vs. Oakland on Feb. 15, her fourth 20-point scoring effort of the season.

·         On Feb. 7 vs. in-state rival IPFW, Nelson scored 17 points and grabbed a season-high 12 rebounds, her first double-double of the season and the fourth of her career.

·         Despite not making a field goal against Western Illinois and scoring four points at North Dakota State on Feb. 12, Nelson’s field goal percentage over her last eight games is .536 (52-of-97), resulting in her scoring 15.1 ppg.

·         On the season, Nelson is seventh in all games in field goal percentage (.479), while ranking fourth in field goal percentage (.550) in conference-only play.