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INDIANAPOLIS - After suffering its first loss of the season at Wright State on Wednesday, the IUPUI women’s basketball team returns home on Saturday, Nov. 17, when it hosts Valparaiso at 4:30 p.m. at The Jungle.
 
GAMEDAY INFORMATION

• Saturday’s game between Valparaiso and IUPUI will be the first of a women’s and men’s doubleheader. The men’s team is set to take on Bradley on Comcast Sportsnet Chicago at 7 p.m. ET.
• Saturday’s game will also be IUPUI’s ‘Jam the Jaguars Pantry’ Game. Fans that bring a canned food item to the game will get $5 ticket discount (Limit of one ticket discount per person).
• Fans who donate a canned food item will also be given a free T-Shirt and tote bag while supplies last.
• Jon Schade will have the call at 4:30 on IUPUIJags.com, and the game will be streamed online via IUPUI Live! Video. The live stream can be viewed for $4.95, and it lasts for 24 hours from the time of activation.

 
ABOUT VALPARAISO

• Valparaiso is off to a 2-0 start this season after defeating Indiana in its season opener and Purdue-Calumet.
• Shaquira Scott and Tabitha Gerardot lead the Crusaders offensively averaging 15.5 ppg and 14.5 ppg, respectively, while Gerardot also is pacing the squad in rebounding at 9.5 rpg.
• Valpo has shot the ball well through two games hitting on 41.9 percent (52-of-124) attempts from the field, which includes its top five scorers all shooting above 50.0 percent.
• As a unit, Valparaiso has controlled the glass averaging 49.5 rebounds compared to just 30.5 for its opponents.

 
THE SERIES WITH THE CRUSADERS

• Valparaiso has owned the all-time series between the two programs leading 20-4.
• The Crusaders have won two straight in the series, including a 65-54 win in the last meeting in Indianapolis on Feb. 12, 2007.
• The Jags are 3-7 all-time when playing the Crusaders at home.

 
LAST TIME OUT ...

• After trailing for most of the game, the IUPUI women’s basketball team fought all the way back and had an opportunities to tie the game in the final minute, but the Jags couldn’t capitalize on their opportunity and dropped a 75-71 decision to Wright State on Nov. 14 at the Nutter Center.
• DeAirra Goss led IUPUI with 22 points on 9-of-13 (69.2 percent) shooting from the field, her second straight 20-plus point effort, but the rest of the Jags struggled from the floor connecting on 18-of-57 attempts from the floor (31.6 percent).
• Wright State only made 22 field goals compared to 27 for the Jags, but the Raiders won the game at the free throw line outscoring IUPUI 25-13.
• Both teams got out to a quick start as the Jags took a 12-10 lead into the first media timeout thanks in part to Goss scoring IUPUI’s first seven points.
• A 6-0 Wright State run gave the Raiders a 16-14 lead, and their lead moved to four before a Dee-Dee Bellamy jumper and four straight points from Goss put the Jags back in front, 22-20, with just under 10 minutes to play.
• From there, foul trouble emerged for the Jags resulting in the Raiders taking a five-point lead, 33-28, with 3:20 to go. A Jordan Barton triple with 56 seconds remaining in the half knotted the score at 33, but Wright State connected on four free throws in the final minute to take a 37-33 lead into halftime.
• Out of the break, IUPUI tied the game twice before a 7-0 WSU spurt pushed the Raiders back in front, 48-41, at the 16:30 mark. The Jaguars managed to slowly climb back within two points on a Katie Comello lay-up midway through the half, but another brief 5-0 run kept IUPUI from tying the score or taking the lead.
• The Wright State lead reached double-digits, 65-55, with 6:44 to play, before IUPUI made one last push. An 8-1 Jags rally featuring a Nevena Markovic bucket, a pair of free throws each from Bellamy and Kerah Nelson, and a Shawnece Teague lay-up trimmed the deficit to three, 66-63, with 5:18 to play.
• In the final minute, IUPUI managed to make it a one-possession game and had a chance to tie in the final 30 seconds, but Comello’s three-point attempt grazed the front of the iron and Wright State hit their free throws at the other end to secure the 75-71 win.
• In addition to Goss, Comello chipped in nine points, while Nelson and Bellamy both added eight apiece.

 
LEADING THE WAY

• In her first two games in an IUPUI uniform, junior DeAirra Goss has been the Jaguars go-to scorer.
• The transfer from Western Michigan put in 24 points in her debut against Grace College on Nov. 10, before scoring 22 in a four-point loss at Wright State on Nov. 14.
• Goss is averaging 23.0 ppg through two games, and is scoring at an extremely efficient rate. She has hit on 18-of-27 field goal attempts (66.7 percent), while also hitting on 4-of-6 3-pointers (66.7 percent).
• By scoring over 20 points in her first two games, she became the first IUPUI player since Tiffany Kyser, during the 2002-03 season, to score 20 or more points in back-to-back games to start a season.
• That year, Kyser scored 20 or more points in three straight games to begin the year (27 vs. Iowa, 21 vs. Murray State, 27 vs. Eastern Illinois).

 
IUPUI’S OPENER

• In IUPUI’s season-opening win over Grace College, IUPUI reached several benchmarks that it had not reached in years.
• First, the 107 points scored marked the first time it scored 100 points since scoring 101 against Robert Morris on Dec. 30, 2001. The 107 points are the most points IUPUI has scored since joining the Division I ranks, and it marked the most points scored since IUPUI lost to Bellarmine in overtime on Jan. 25, 1995, 111-119.
• In scoring 107 points, IUPUI connected on 40-of-81 field goal attempts, including 13-of-23 made three-pointers.
• By making 40 field goals, it was the first time since Feb. 18, 2008, in which the Jags made more than 35 field goals in a game, and the 13 made 3-pointers marked the first time it had made double-digit three’s since Nov. 20, 2005 against Iowa State.
• Finally, IUPUI’s 81 field goal attempts marked the first time it had surpassed 75 field goal attempts in a game since throwing up 78 attempts against Cleveland State on Dec. 8, 2001.

 
JAGS SIGN THREE DURING EARLY SIGNING PERIOD

• For the third straight year, IUPUI head women’s basketball coach Austin Parkinson signed three players to National Letters of Intent in Kelsi Byrd (Crawfordsville, Ind./North Montgomery), Mikale Rogers (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North) and Nia Pappas (Palatine, Ill./Palatine).
• This is Parkinson’s third class since becoming the head coach and of those nine players he has signed, seven have come from inside state lines, while two have come from nearby Illinois.
• “Not only is there a lot of talent in the Midwest, but these players are all well-coached and play basketball the right way, which is why we continue to focus our recruiting efforts in this area,” Parkinson said.
• As a junior, Byrd led North Montgomery High School in scoring, rebounding and assists averaging 13.5 ppg, 7.2 rpg, and 4.2 apg. The 5-10 guard scored in double figures in 16 of 22 games last season, and posted four double-doubles, including a 19-point, 12-rebound effort against Seeger High School.
• Byrd, a starter since her freshman season, was a 2012 Honorable Mention All-State selection by the Associated Press and basketball runs in her family as her brother, D.J. Byrd, is a senior for the Purdue Boilermakers.
• “Kels is a versatile wing who can really get after people on the defensive end. She has a certain toughness about her that really shines through in how she plays the game,” Parkinson said. “Something that I think goes overlooked and underappreciated at times is her ability to see the floor and create easy opportunities for others with her passing.”
• Rogers is a three-star prospect and the No. 20 prospect at her position according to ESPN.com HoopGurlz. Rogers was an IBCA Underclass Honorable-Mention All-State selection as a junior after averaging 10.0 ppg and 8.0 rpg for Lawrence North.
• Additionally, Rogers averaged nearly 2.0 bps and was a second-team all-conference and an all-sectional performer as a junior.
• “Mikale has a chance to really be a special player. Her size and athleticism combined with how hard she plays the game is going to make her a force down low,” Parkinson said. “She is by far the best rebounder I’ve recruited and someone who seems to get better every time I go watch her play.”
• Pappas has started every game at the point for Palatine High School in her three seasons and led the Mid-Suburban League West in scoring in conference-only games with 14.0 ppg last season. Her top performance came against Hoffman Estates, in which she scored a career-high 26 points in a 45-39 overtime win.
• This past Monday in Palatine’s season-opening game over Des Plaines, Pappas scored 19 of her career-high tying 26 points in the second half, which included the game-winning 17-foot jumper with 3.2 seconds remaining to give her team the 49-48 victory.
• Pappas is the first Palatine player since Karen Hagberg in 2000 to commit to a Division I program. Hagberg went on to play at Illinois from 2000-04.
• “I am really excited to have Nia on board because she will be the first ‘true point guard’ we’ve brought into the program,” Parkinson said. “Nia has a tremendous understanding of the game and has the speed to really push the tempo offensively. I also like the fact that Nia has consistently shot the ball well from three point range, which will add a different dimension to the position.”