Box Score

VALPARAISO, Ind. – Three players came off the bench and scored in double figures, and the IUPUI women's basketball team held Valparaiso to 28.3 percent shooting from the floor leading the Jaguars to an 84-51 win over the Crusaders Thursday evening in their first road game of the season at the Athletics Recreation Center on the campus of Valparaiso University.

Akilah Sims led all players with a career-high 16 points off the bench, while Kelsi Byrd and Mikale Rogers each added a career-high 15 points helping the Jags bench outscore the Crusaders bench, 56-9.

"Our bench across the board played very well tonight and outscored their team 28-23 in the first half and outscored their bench 56-9 for the game," head coach Austin Parkinson said. "Kelsi Byrd had her best game both offensively and defensively and Akilah Sims really did some nice things. She obviously led us with 16 points, but I was most proud of her three assists and zero turnovers."

The win for IUPUI was its first at Valparaiso since Feb. 17, 2011. Additionally, the win marked the largest margin of victory for IUPUI in series history. The 33-point victory is also two more points than the combined margin of victory of its first five wins over the Crusaders.

"We talked this week that this is like a Summit League weekend playing on Thursday and Saturday, and for us it starts on defense and being able to take care of the ball," Parkinson said. "We only had nine turnovers tonight and had 21 assists, and that's a good trend to have on the road."

Despite hitting their first three shots from the floor, IUPUI could not pull away early from Valparaiso and only held a three-point lead as the mid-way point of the first half approached. But with just less than 11 minutes to play in the half, Sims connected on a lay-up and proceeded to score five more points in the next three minutes during a 10-1 run that opened up a 25-13 advantage for the Jags.

After two Valpo free throws cut the IUPUI cushion to 10 with 7:04 to play, IUPUI picked up 11 of its final 18 points of the half from Mikale Rogers and Byrd as it opened a 43-23 lead going into halftime. The end of the half was capped off by a Sims three with 39 seconds to play, which gave her 10 points heading into the break.

Out of the half, the Jags held the Crusaders to just five points in six minutes. Meanwhile, Mikale Rogers and Shanika Maddox combined to score nine of IUPUI's first 13 points of the half in the paint as the Jaguars doubled up Valparaiso at 56-28.

Two Byrd jumpers in a 31-second span eventually pushed the lead to 30, 75-45, with 4:58 to go, and from that point the Jags cruised to an 84-51 win.

The Jaguars close out their brief road swing on Saturday, Nov. 23, when they head to Chicago, Ill., to take on Chicago State. The game is set to start at 3 p.m. ET, and Morgan Adcock will have the call on IUPUIJags.com beginning just prior to tip.