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INDIANAPOLIS – Akilah Sims scored a career-high 18 points and led four double-digit scorers as the IUPUI women's basketball team earned its third consecutive Summit League victory with an 82-66 win over Denver Saturday afternoon at The Jungle.

IUPUI (13-6; 3-1 Summit) shot 60.0 percent from the floor in the first half to take a 12-point lead into halftime, but connected on just 29.2 percent of its attempts in the second half despite holding on for the 16-point win. The Jags offset their poor shooting in the second half by hitting 18-of-27 free throws and managed to outscore Denver by 10 points from the line during the second 20 minutes.

"Offensively, I thought we got off to a strong start – we moved the ball pretty well and got the ball inside when we needed to," head coach Austin Parkinson said. "Defensively, I thought we were really poor, especially in the first half. Our post players have to get locked in to what we're doing defensively because every game we've had a post player get a big number on us. In the second half, I thought we did a much better job and held [Theresa Wirth] to just four points and that made a difference."

DeAirra Goss, Nicole Rogers and Katie Comello joined Sims in double figures with Goss scoring 16 points, Rogers adding 13 and Comello chipping in 10 off the bench. However, it was Sims who made an impact inside scoring 10 of her 18 points in the paint helping the Jaguars outscore the Pioneers 32-20 inside.

"Akilah has really matured as a player both on and off the court and I think you're starting to see that in games as well," Parkinson said. "She presents a lot of problems because of her athleticism when she runs up and down, and she's been really crafty around the basket. We've really enjoyed seeing that and we think it's been a big help."

Rogers and Goss each hit their first three shots from the floor, which included two three's from Rogers, and the Jags collectively hit eight of their first 10 attempts from the field as they sprinted out to a 19-14 lead nearly six minutes in.

The fast-paced action continued, but the scoring pace slowed a bit as both defenses made some adjustments. Denver closed within three at 26-23 on a Theresa Wirth three with 9:31 to play, but a 10-3 IUPUI spurt from the 8:18 mark to the 5:54 mark pushed its lead to double figures, 36-26.

Once the lead reached double figures, Wirth scored six straight points, including four from the free throw line, to bring the Pioneers within four with 4:10 to go, but a 13-5 run to close the half gave the Jaguars a 49-37 advantage heading into halftime.

Out of the half, six fouls and three turnovers allowed Denver to close within nine, 54-45, by the first media timeout, and the Jags poor shooting did not allow them to extend their lead past 13 resulting in the Pioneers being able to stay within striking distance.

Denver managed to chip away at its deficit and a Wirth driving lay-up with 9:11 to play trimmed the IUPUI lead to seven, 62-55, forcing Parkinson to use his first timeout of the half to regroup his team.

Neither team scored for nearly two and a half minutes until Nevena Markovic fought through contact to get a tough lay-up to fall, before hitting two free throws on IUPUI's next possession to boost that lead back to nine, 66-57.

IUPUI hit 4-of-6 from the line in the next 2:22 to move its lead to 13, 70-57, and managed to keep its lead in double figures the rest of the way as it eventually finished off an 82-66 win.

The Jags have a week off before returning to action against in-state rival IPFW on Saturday, Jan. 25, at The Jungle. Tip is set for 3 p.m. and Morgan Adcock will have the call on IUPUIJags.com beginning just prior to tip.

The Mastodons and Jags both enter with identical 3-1 Summit League records after the Mastodons emerged with an 18-point victory over South Dakota on Saturday in Fort Wayne, Ind.

"We better get our defense figured out because [IPFW] put up 96 [points] today. They are very good offensively - they make a lot of three's and play in transition - so we're going to have to correct some things if we're going to be able to beat IPFW, but it should be a good game."