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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - South Dakota State’s Jill Young hit a trio of three-pointers in the opening two minutes of the second half helping the Jackrabbits go on a 17-5 run which proved to be too much for the IUPUI women’s basketball team to overcome as the Jaguars fell to the top seed, 79-54, in the Summit League semifinals Monday afternoon at Sioux Falls Arena.

The loss dropped IUPUI to 13-19 on the season, but the 13 wins for IUPUI were six more wins than its last two seasons combined.

Emily Phillips carried the Jaguars in the opening 20 minutes scoring 10 of her 12 points in the first half, while Kerah Nelson and Dawn Luster added 13 point and 11 points, respectively for the Jaguars.

Nelson’s 13 points pushed her season total to 518, the sixth-best single-season point total in history. It also serves as IUPUI’s best single-season points total since the school joined the Division I era during the 1998-99 season.

Clara Mitchell got the Jags on the board first when Katie Comello found her inside for an easy lay-up, but South Dakota State rallied off the next six points and took a 9-5 lead into the first media timeout.

Phillips responded by putting the team on her back hitting three consecutive jumpers to put IUPUI in front, 11-9, at the 13:09 mark.

IUPUI held a 16-15 lead, before a fortunate roll on a SDSU three-pointer dropped and it then proceeded to pick off a pass and put in a fast break lay-up to go in front, 20-16, with 6:42 to play.

After a Phillips floater in the lane closed the Jags deficit to 24-21, an 8-0 Jackrabbits spurt opened up a double-figure lead, 32-21, for the top seed with 1:31 to go.

A free throw by Nelson and two free throws from Luster in the final minute off-set an Ashley Eide floater and sent IUPUI into the half trailing by 10 points, 34-24.

Out of the half, SDSU could not miss hitting three triples, all from Jill Young, during a 17-5 run that opened up a 51-29 lead just over three minutes in.

The Jags continued to fight but could not move its deficit below 17 points the rest of the way as South Dakota State went on to pick up the 79-54 win.

In addition to her 13 points, Nelson added a game-high nine rebounds and a team-high three assists.

The Jags faced an uphill battle in the first half with Mitchell picking up two fouls and Markovic getting whistled three times for fouls. Losing those two front court players helped the Jackrabbits win the rebounding battle in the first half and ultimately led to a 51-34 edge on the glass. Eighteen offensive rebounds for SDSU led to 16 second-chance points.