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INDIANAPOLIS - The Jaguars look for their second straight road win and their fourth consecutive win overall this weekend when they travel to Cedar City, Utah, to take on Southern Utah on Saturday, Feb. 11. Tip is set for 7 p.m. ET.
 
SCOUTING THE THUNDERBIRDS

• Southern Utah comes into Saturday’s game with a 5-19 overall record and a 1-12 Summit League mark.
• The Thunderbirds have lost five in a row and 13 of their last 14 with their lone win coming at home against IPFW on Jan. 21.
• Three players are scoring in double figures led by Haile Mandelko’s 13.1 ppg. Mandelko is SUU’s top three-point threat hitting 42 on the season while shooting the deep ball at a .365 clip.
• Carli Moreland and Andrea Jones are the other two players scoring in double figures averaging 10.8 and 10.4 ppg, respectively.
• Moreland also leads the team in rebounding corralling 8.4 rpg, ranking second in the Summit League.
• The Thunderbirds are the top rebounding team in the conference pulling in 40.3 per game, but one of their weaknesses this season have been turnovers. SUU averages 22.2 turnovers per game and owns a -8.2 turnover margin.

 
ALL-TIME SERIES AGAINST SOUTHERN UTAH

• Saturday’s meeting between the two schools will be the 28th in series history.
• SUU leads the all-time series, 15-12, but the Jaguars won the last meeting, 56-49, earlier this season in The Jungle.
• IUPUI is 3-10 all-time when playing in Cedar City.

 
A LOOK BACK AT THE LAST GAME

• IUPUI leaned on its all-conference performer Kerah Nelson and she scored 25 points and added 14 rebounds leading the Jaguars past Oakland University, 64-61, Monday evening at The Jungle.
• The win snapped Oakland’s eight-game winning streak in the series between the two league foes and evened IUPUI’s Summit League record at 6-6.
• Nelson and Oakland’s Bethany Watterworth went toe-to-toe down the stretch as each tried to will their team to victory, but Nelson scored 10 of her game-high 25 points in the final 7:23 which was enough to give her team the victory. Nelson’s 14 rebounds tied a career high, while her four assists tied a season best.
• For the second straight game, Emily Phillips stepped up and provided the Jaguars much-needed perimeter scoring going for 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting. Katie Comello also reached double figures with 12 points and hit the only two three’s in the game.
• Shooting just 2-of-7 from the floor and trailing early, the Jags two leading scorers in Nelson and Comello combined to score IUPUI’s next seven points pushing the Jaguars on top, 13-7, nearly eight minutes in.
• Oakland slowly chipped away at its deficit climbing within two points at 22-20 with 9:42 to play, before IUPUI took control.
• Over the next 6:51, the Jaguars went on an 11-2 run highlighted by an old-fashioned three-point play from Comello that opened up a 33-22 lead.
• In the final minutes, Oakland scored all four of its points from the charity stripe, while IUPUI received a fast break lay-up from Nelson sending the Jags into the break leading 35-26.
• Despite hitting just one field goal in the final minutes, the Jaguars shot 50.0 percent (15-of-30) from the floor in the first half compared to 32.1 percent (9-of-28) shooting for the Golden Grizzlies.
• For the first 13 minutes of the second half, the Jaguars lead fluctuated between six and 10 points until Nelson and Bethany Watterworth, both All-Summit League performers from a season ago, started to take over for their respective teams.
• For a seven minute stretch, Watterworth scored 13 of Oakland’s 15 points, while Nelson scored all 10 of IUPUI’s points keeping the Jags in front by two points, 62-60 with a half minute to go.
• With 27 seconds left, Sharise Calhoun missed the front end of two free throws closing Oakland’s deficit to one point, 62-61. With the shot clock turned off and Oakland needing to foul to extend the game, the Golden Grizzlies fouled twice before forcing a jump ball that gave them the ball on the alternating possession.
• On their final possession, IUPUI double teamed Watterworth in the post forcing the ball to Victoria Lipscomb, and her three from the top of the key missed wide allowing Phillips to corral the rebound and she was quickly fouled.
• Phillips went to the line for the one-and one and made both to move IUPUI’s lead to three points, 64-61. A desperation heave by Calhoun at the buzzer went wide right giving IUPUI its third-straight win with the 64-61 triumph.
• With the win, the Jaguars not only claimed their second weekend conference sweep in three seasons, but they also won their third straight game marking their longest winning streak since 2008-09.

 
20-POINT PRODUCTION

• Throughout the 2011-12 season, Kerah Nelson has developed into a consistent scorer for the Jaguars.
• Over the first two years of her career, she had 10 games in which she scored 20 points or more and she has already matched that this season alone.
• Nelson is averaging 16.7 ppg this season and she has scored 20 points or more in three straight games.
• Nelson is the fourth player in IUPUI history to score 20 points or more in three straight games since the Jags joined the Division I ranks during the 1998-99 season.
• Tiffany Kyser accomplished the feat twice during the 2002-03 season, while Amber Holle and Angie Watt notched three straight 20-plus point games during the 2001-02 and 2000-01 season, respectively.
• If Nelson records 20 points or more against Southern Utah on Feb. 11, she would be the first IUPUI player in the Division I era to reach at least 20 points in four straight games.

 
LOSING SKID NO MORE

• Behind a total team effort, IUPUI snapped a 36-game road losing streak when it defeated Western Illinois in overtime on Jan. 28.
• Only one person on IUPUI’s roster had picked up a road win at IUPUI in Janna Eichelberger, who was on the roster when the Jags last won on the road - ironically in Macomb, Ill., on Feb. 28, 2009.
• The losing streak spanned all of the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons, and the first nine road games of this season.

 
LEARNING HOW TO WIN

• In the previous two seasons prior to the 2011-12 campaign, the Jaguars combined to pick up just seven wins. This season IUPUI has already surpassed that mark and reached double-digit wins for the first time since the 2008-09 season with a 14-point win over IPFW on Feb. 4.
• Part of the reason for IUPUI’s success this season has been finding different ways to win.
• During the 2009-10 season and the 2010-11 campaign, the Jaguars combined to just win one out of 46 games when trailing at the half.
• This season, the Jaguars are 2-10 when trailing at the half, but both of those wins have come in the last month.
• The Jags trailed Southern Utah at the half on Jan. 16 before rallying for a 56-49 win, and then trailed IPFW by five at the half before completing a 76-62 win on Feb. 4.
• In the past, the Jags have also struggled winning games when committing more turnovers than their opponents. However, that trend has reversed this season as well.
• Entering this season, IUPUI had lost its last 37 games when committing more turnovers than its opponents.
• IUPUI lost its first five games this season when turning the ball over more than its opponents, before winning its last two games despite losing the turnover margin.

 
PHILLIPS KEY AT THE POINT

• One of the reasons IUPUI has won five of its last seven games has been the production of junior point guard Emily Phillips.
• Over IUPUI’s first 15 games, Phillips struggled shooting the ball hitting 20-of-96 attempts (20.8%) from the floor, en route to averaging 3.5 ppg. She also averaged 2.0 rpg, 3.5 apg, and 1.9 spg.
• Since the Jags Jan. 7 four-point loss at Oakland in which Phillips went off for a then-career-high 16 points, she has improved in almost every statistical category.
• Since Jan. 7, the South Bend, Ind.-native is averaging 10.8 ppg on 39-of-90 (43.3%) shooting, while averaging 3.7 rpg, 2.9 apg, and 1.8 spg.

 
KEY RETURN

• Missing three games due to injury from Jan. 21 to Jan. 28, Katie Comello has picked up right where she left off in her last two games helping IUPUI to wins over IPFW and Oakland.
• In her two previous games before getting injured on Jan. 16, Comello averaged 19.0 ppg, which included a 28-point performance in a win over Oral Roberts.
• However, in her two games back from injury Comello has been extremely productive in a limited amount of time.
• In just 43 minutes of action, Comello has scored 27 points averaging out to 13.5 ppg. The Colerain Township, Ohio-native has also been efficient from the field hitting on 9-of-14 (64.3%) attempts from the floor.
• Comello has also been able to score from the line hitting 7-of-9 from the charity stripe over the last two games.

 
NOT MISSING A BEAT

• Without its second-leading scorer from Jan. 21 to Jan. 28, the Jaguars didn’t miss a beat offensively thanks in part to the production of Dawn Luster.
• Luster stepped up and supplied the Jaguars with a much-needed offensive burst against South Dakota on Jan. 23 and almost carried the Jags to a win.
• Luster, who came into the game scoring in double figures just twice this season and three times in her career, got hot from the floor and hit 8-of-18 shots, including 3-of-4 from three, en route to a career-high 24 points. The eight made field goals and three triples also were career-bests.
• She scored eight of her 14 first-half points in the final three minutes of the first half against the Coyotes, and those 14 points were one shy of her career high set against Indiana on Dec. 11.
• Her offensive production has continued since that game with 11 points at Western Illinois and eight points against IPFW, both resulting in wins.
• In her first 17 games, Luster averaged 4.9 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 2.3 apg, and 1.5 spg, while shooting 33.3% from the field, 25.0% from three, and 68.8% from the free throw line.
• Over the last five games, the Holland, Ill.-native is averaging 10.6 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 1.6 apg, and 1.8 spg, while shooting 41.3% from the field, 50.0% from three, and 81.3% from the charity stripe.