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FARGO, N.D. - After dropping a hard-fought Summit League opener to South Dakota State on Thursday, the IUPUI women's basketball team heads to Fargo, N.D., on Saturday, Jan. 11, in search of its first conference victory of the season.

GAMEDAY INFORMATION

• The Jaguars and Bison will tip at 3:00 p.m. ET at Bison Sports Arena on Saturday.
• Saturday's game will be streamed live through GoBison.com and live stats will be available through GoBison.com.

ABOUT NORTH DAKOTA STATE

• Similar to the Jaguars, the Bison are coming off a tough loss in their opener after falling in double overtime to Fort Wayne.
• NDSU enters Saturday's match-up with a 3-12 overall record with eight of its 12 losses coming by 10 points or less.
• North Dakota State averages 70.7 ppg and is giving up 73.9 ppg, but it has three double-figure scorers in Brooke LeMar, Marena Whittle and Holly Johnson.
• Whittle is coming off a monster game against the Mastodons where she posted 34 points and 15 rebounds. On the season, LeMar leads the team with 15.4 ppg, followed by Whittle and Johnson with 12.3 ppg and 11.8 ppg, respectively.
• The Bison do a great job of limiting their turnovers committing just 12.4 per game.

THE SERIES WITH THE BISON

• North Dakota State leads the all-time series between the two schools, 8-5, which included a season split last season as the home team emerged victories in both meetings.
• The Jags are 0-6 all-time at Bison Sports Arena, including a pair of one-possession losses in their last two trips to Fargo.

LAST TIME OUT ...

• DeAirra Goss scored 21 points and Akilah Sims added 12, but South Dakota State held on for a 63-57 win in the Summit League opener for both teams Thursday evening at Frost Arena.
• IUPUI (10-6; 0-1 Summit) hit just 22.2 percent (6-of-27) of its field goal attempts in the first half as South Dakota State (10-7; 1-0 Summit) took a nine-point lead into the break, but the Jags managed to rally back and seize a two-point lead with 7:56 to go. However, a 10-2 SDSU response re-established a six-point advantage proving to be the difference.
• Goss scored 16 of her 21 points in the second half and finished the game 5-of-11 from the floor and 11-of-12 from the line helping IUPUI outscore SDSU 20-14 from the charity stripe. Tara Heiser led the Jackrabbits with 11 points and hit three of South Dakota State's five three's that offset just three triples for the Jags.
• Five different players scored in the first 5:36 helping IUPUI take an early 10-6 advantage, but an 11-2 South Dakota State response, including six points off two triples from Heiser, put the Jackrabbits in front 17-12 as the midway point of the first half neared.
• Uncharacteristically, however, the Jaguars went cold from the floor failing to hit on a basket from the 12:25 mark to the 1:39 mark and the Jackrabbits took advantage moving their lead to double figures, 30-20.
• A Clarissa Ober lay-up moved the SDSU cushion to 12, but with the clock winding down in the first half, Nevena Markovic hit a spot-up three from the right wing with five seconds remaining to trim IUPUI's deficit to single digits, 32-23, entering halftime.
• Out of the half, the SDSU lead flip-flopped between six and nine until the Jackrabbits were able to move their lead to double figures, 40-30, with a little more than 12 minutes to play.
• Beginning with an old-fashioned three-point play from Goss with 11:54 on the clock, IUPUI seized the momentum by going on a 14-2 run over the next 4:03 to catapult in front, 44-42. During the run, Goss scored half of IUPUI's points to give the Jags their first lead since the 14:05 mark of the first half.
• With the score knotted at 46, a quick 6-0 spurt from SDSU gave it a 52-46 advantage with a little less than four minutes to play. IUPUI closed within three off two Goss free throws with 1:09 left and had a chance to climb within one or even tie the game following a Megan Waytashek missed three, but a missed lay-up in transition for the Jaguars followed by an IUPUI foul put SDSU at the line. The Jackrabbits hit 3-of-4 at the charity stripe before IUPUI got the ball back pushing their cushion to six, and that margin held as South Dakota State earned a 63-57 win.

RETURNING TO FORM

• After scoring in double figures just four times in an 11-game stretch from Nov. 21 to Dec. 30, DeAirra Goss has started the New Year with an aggressive mindset over the past two games.
• Since the calendar turned to 2014, Goss is averaging 19.0 ppg and shooting 54.5 percent from the floor.(12-of-22).
• When the shots aren't falling, Goss has been able to get to the line where she has hit 14 of her last 15 attempts (93.3 percent).
• During this stretch, she is also averaging 5.5 rpg.

CAPITALIZING AT THE STRIPE

• Through the first 13 games of the season, the Jaguars were struggling at the free throw line shooting 63.6% on the season.
• However, the Jags reversed that trend over the past three games connecting on 84.0 percent of their free throw attempts.
• Against IU-Southeast on Dec. 31, IUPUI outscored IU-Southeast by 21 points at the free throw line thanks to hitting 31-of-37 from the charity stripe, led by Akilah Sims' perfect 8-of-8 shooting from the line.
• The 31 made free throws marked the most made free throws for the Jags since burying 31 against Bowling Green on Dec. 22, 2003.
• The Jaguars then followed that with a 17-for-19 performance against Youngstown State on Jan. 4, before hitting 20-of-25 against South Dakota State on Jan. 9.
• During this stretch, DeAirra Goss, Nevena Markovic and Akilah Sims are a combined 42-of-44 (95.4 percent), with Goss hitting 18-of-19, Sims making 14-of-15, and Markovic burying all 10 of her attempts.