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MACOMB, Ill. – Behind a balanced scoring attack that featured five double-figure scorers, the IUPUI women's basketball team defeated Western Illinois, 77-60, Thursday evening in Summit League action at Waste Management Court inside Western Hall.

The win was IUPUI's fifth in a row and fourth straight over the Leathernecks as it improved to 15-6 overall and 5-1 in the conference. Western Illinois fell to 10-11 overall and 2-4 in league play.

Nicole Rogers continued her hot shooting from three hitting 4-of-8 from deep to lead all IUPUI scorers with 12, marking her fifth straight game hitting multiple triples. IUPUI's guard trio of Dee-Dee Bellamy, Dawn Luster and DeAirra Goss followed with 11 points each, while Akilah Sims rounded out the double-figure scorers with 10 points. Collectively, the Jags connected on 50.0 percent of its looks, and 53.8 percent of its three's thanks in part to Rogers' efficiency from three.

"Our kids did a great job of sharing the basketball tonight. I thought Dee-Dee Bellamy really spearheaded the effort with what I thought was her best performance of the year with 11 points, seven assists and five rebounds and that made a difference for us," head coach Austin Parkinson said. "Dawn came off the bench when DeAirra got into some foul trouble and provided that spark for us when we needed it, which was big in this game."

The Leathernecks came into the contest as the highest scoring team in the league averaging 83 points per game, while the Jags entered as the second-best scoring defense in the conference. Thursday night, the Jags defense won that battle holding WIU to just 60 points – tying their lowest scoring output of the season – on just 41.1 percent shooting from the floor, including 27.3 percent from three.

The Jaguars also forced Western Illinois into 21 turnovers and IUPUI capitalized on those miscues outscoring WIU 34-16 in points off turnovers.

"We knew a few weeks ago we were coming into a stretch against some high-powered offenses and our kids have really stepped up to the challenge and buckled down defensively," Parkinson said. "We have to continue to take care of basketball and tonight we boxed out, got the ball out in transition, and that got us some easy baskets."

Rogers got IUPUI off to a strong start offensively hitting two three's in the first four minutes, but it was a 9-0 run capped off by a Sims fast break lay-up off a Luster steal that propelled IUPUI to an 18-7 lead a little more than six minutes in.

The Leathernecks chipped away at their deficit and eventually knotted the score at 26-26 following a Liz Skotowski three with exactly four minutes to play in the opening 20 minutes.

However, the Jags regrouped and used 10 combined points from Bellamy and Luster during a 12-1 run over the final minutes of the half sending the Jags into the locker room with a 38-27 cushion.

Six quick points in the opening minute of the second half from Goss quickly escalated IUPUI's lead to 17 points, 44-27, but similar to the first half, the Leathernecks methodically closed within eight points, 51-43, with 11:03 to play.

But it was from that point that the Jaguars were able to do what good teams do – they put the game out of reach. Defensively, the Jags forced three turnovers in consecutive possessions, which turned into six easy transition points, and managed to put together a 16-3 run over a 4:27 stretch to extend their lead to 67-46 with 5:48 remaining.

From that point, the IUPUI advantage never dipped below 15 and the Jags finished off the 17-point win.

In addition to her 11 points, Bellamy also dished out a career-high seven assists and added five rebounds and three steals in the win. Luster led the Jags on the glass with six boards and tacked on four assists.

IUPUI closes out its weekend conference road trip on Saturday, Feb. 1, when it takes on the Omaha Mavericks in Omaha, Neb. Tip is set for 3 p.m. ET.