INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Sophomore Kerah Nelson scored 15 of her team-high 17 points in the first half to keep the IUPUI women’s basketball team within striking distance, but IPFW shot 60.7 percent in the second half and outscored the Jaguars by 18 points to pick up an 84-59 win Monday evening in The Jungle.

Nelson hit 8-of-16 shots from the floor for her 17 points and grabbed a season-high 12 rebounds, while Jasmine Horne also scored in double figures for IUPUI (3-19; 1-11 Summit) with 16 points.

“In the first half we had the right mindset getting the ball inside to Kerah,” said head coach Austin Parkinson. “She gave us a lot scoring a rebounding but defensively, we gave up 40 or more points in each half. Defense is where it starts for us and we had too many breakdowns tonight against a team that is really skilled offensively.”

From the get-go, it took the Jags some time to get into the flow of the game. In the first six minutes, four IPFW (16-6; 10-3 Summit) players combined to push the Mastodons out to a 14-7 lead.

It was then that Nelson put the Jaguars on her back scoring nine of IUPUI’s 11 points during an 11-3 surge to give the Jags their first and only lead of the game, 18-17, with 10:56 on the clock.

A 7-0 IPFW response over the next 4:05 widened the Mastodons lead back to seven points, but Nelson continued to do her damage in the paint scoring IUPUI’s next four points off post moves as the Jaguars deficit returned to three points, 25-22.

Behind seven points from Indianapolis native Anne Boese during a 15-6 spurt, IPFW took a 40-28 lead heading into the final minute.

However, a free throw by #Del’Niqua Bellamy# and a lay-up at the buzzer by Horne brought the Jaguars deficit into single digits, 40-31, entering the half.

While it was Nelson who carried the Jaguars in the first half scoring 15 of the team’s 31 points, Horne and Clara Mitchell picked up their games in the second half combining to score 12 of the team’s 14 points through the mid-way point of the half.

Despite Horne and Mitchell picking up their offensive production, IUPUI could not keep IPFW out of the lane. Chelsey Jackson continued to penetrate into the lane and either score or distribute to her teammates leading to a 60 percent field goal percentage over the first 10 minutes of the second half, resulting in the Mastodons lead growing to 63-45.

Over the final 10 minutes, the Jags continued to fight, but were unable to cut the deficit any further and ultimately fell to IPFW, 84-59.

In a career-high 28 minutes, Bellamy contributed career-bests in both scoring and rebounding with six points and seven boards. Mitchell, in addition to Nelson, was aggressive in the post and scored seven points while grabbing five rebounds.

“De-De [Del’Niqua Bellamy] competed at a high level on both ends of the floor and made some nice plays going to the basket,” Parkinson said. “I was also really impressed with Clara’s play as she posted up strong, really fought for position, and you can really start to see her confidence growing offensively.”

IUPUI also won the turnover battle committing a season-low 11 turnovers, but the deciding factor was IPFW shooting 53.3 percent from the floor compared to 39.0 percent for IUPUI.