Box Score | Highlights | Photo Gallery | Austin Parkinson Postgame Interview | Dawn Luster Postgame Interview

INDIANAPOLIS – A 16-3 run to start the second half took a one-point halftime lead and widened it to 14, and the IUPUI women’s basketball never looked back as they defeated North Dakota State, 57-40, Saturday afternoon at The Jungle.

The win was IUPUI’s fifth in a row as it improved to 16-9 overall and 9-3 in the Summit League, while the Bison fell to 9-17 overall and 5-9 in the conference.

“The kids did a really nice job. One of the things we talked about was maturing as a program and being able to handle success. After a big win on Thursday, we knew it would be a challenge coming back today,” said head coach Austin Parkinson. “I thought the kids did a good job – they wanted to play hard – we just had a lot of errors in the first half. Once we corrected that, we were able to have a big second half and get the win.”

Dawn Luster kick started the Jaguars offense in the second half and finished with a team-high tying 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the floor. Luster also added six assists and two rebounds in the win. Kerah Nelson also reached double digits with 10 points and added a team-best tying seven boards.

“Dawn kind of got off to a slow start at the beginning of the game, but after that she really pushed the ball, made some great passes to get some people some easy baskets and that kind of opened things up for us in the second half and gave us some momentum as we went forward,” Parkinson added.

With the Bison only playing eight players, the Jaguars used their depth to their advantage and outscored the NDSU bench 28-7.

“Our bench just takes a lot of pride of coming in when it’s their turn. We have a lot of kids that care for each other and nobody’s caught up in their minutes a whole lot, so we have different kids that contribute,” Parkinson said. “Nicole Rogers came off the bench in the first half and gave us some big baskets, Jordan Barton has done some good things and Akilah Sims played really hard tonight. Each game it’s somebody different and they each have unique skill sets, and I’m happy we have that much depth.”

Poor shooting plagued both teams in the first half, but 14 IUPUI turnovers kept the Bison within striking distance.

North Dakota State took a 9-6 lead eight minutes in before the Jaguars were able to go on a 12-4 run. A Nevena Markovic reverse lay-up with 11:59 to play started the surge and two Rogers triples capped off the spurt leaving IUPUI on top, 18-13, with 3:21 on the clock.

However, in the final three minutes, the Jags hit just 1-of-5 field goal attempts and committed three turnovers allowing the Bison to close within one, 20-19, entering halftime courtesy of four Katie Birkel points and two from Liz Keena.

The Jaguars came out of the locker room with more intensity and it paid dividends quickly. Fueled by seven points from Luster, the Jags went on a 16-3 run over the first six minutes to push its one-point halftime lead to 14 points, 36-22.

Over the next 10 minutes, the Jags were able to execute their offense and convert their free throws as they expanded their lead to 20, 52-32.

From that point, the outcome was never in doubt and IUPUI finished off a 57-40 victory.

IUPUI returns to the court on Thursday, Feb. 21, when it heads to Vermillion, S.D., to take on the South Dakota Coyotes. Tip is set for 8 p.m. ET.