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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - The 2014 Summit League Women's Basketball Tournament begins on Saturday, March 8, when the No. 2 seed IUPUI Jaguars take on the No. 7 seed North Dakota State Bison at 3 p.m. ET, in Sioux Falls, S.D.

GAMEDAY INFORMATION

• The Jaguars and Bison will tip at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday at the Sioux Falls Sports Arena.
• Live stats can be accessed through www.IUPUIJags.com and www.thesummitleague.org.
• Morgan Adcock will have the radio call live from Sioux Falls, S.D., beginning just prior to tip, and fans can listen in on IUPUIJags.com.
• The game will be broadcast on tape delay at 11 p.m. ET on Saturday on Fox College Sports Central.

ABOUT NORTH DAKOTA STATE

• The Bison enter the conference tournament with a 6-23 overall record and a 2-12 Summit League mark.
• However, NDSU is 2-2 on a neutral floor this season.
• North Dakota State averages 68.0 ppg this season, and has three players scoring in double figures led by Brooke LeMar's 15.1 ppg. LeMar also leads the team in assists with 153 this season, averaging out to 5.3 apg.
• The other two double-figure scorers are Marena Whittle and Holly Johnson, who are scoring 13.4 ppg and 13.0 ppg, respectively.
• Whittle is the leading rebounder for the Bison with 7.0 rpg, but collectively, NDSU is being outrebounded 41.9 to 38.4.
• North Dakota State does a great job of taking care of the basketball averaging just 13.0 to/g, and it is one of the better free throw shooting teams in the conference hitting 74.8 percent of its free throws.

THE SERIES WITH THE BISON

• NDSU owns a slim 8-7 lead in the all-time series between the two schools, but the Jags have won three consecutive meetings including both this season.
• The Jags and Bison last met in the Summit League Tournament back in 2012, when IUPUI earned an 80-64 victory to advance to the Summit League Semifinals.

LAST TIME OUT ...

• It was a record setting performance for the Jaguars on Senior Night. Two nights after getting to 20 wins for the second straight season, the Jaguars beat Western Illinois, 76-68, for their 21st win of the season on Saturday, March 1, a school-record in the Division I era.
• DeAirra Goss led the way for the Jaguars with 14 points, although it was a very balanced attack. Nevena Markovic scored 13 to go with 10 boards, her fourth double-double of the season.
• Shanika Maddox also scored 13 and was one rebound shy of a double-double. Nicole Rogers added 12 on 4-5 shooting from behind the arc, putting her alone in fourth place for most 3-pointers made in a season by an IUPUI player.
• Before the game got underway, IUPUI's four seniors, Dee-Dee Bellamy, Goss, Dawn Luster and Katie Comello, were honored at mid-court with ceremonial basketballs, framed jerseys and an ovation from the crowd.
• The mood didn't last long though as the Jaguars got off to a rough start just like they did Thursday against Omaha. Luke made three straight layups to give the Leathernecks a 6-2 lead. The Jaguars managed to tie the game back up at nine but the Leathernecks answered with a 9-4 run in only 1:28.
• Down 18-13 with 11:16 remaining in the half, the Jaguars went on a huge run, just like they did against Omaha, to take control of the game. Markovic and Maddox made a pair of layups to get things started and Kelsi Byrd found Comello for a three-pointer to give the Jaguars a 20-18 lead.
• After a steal and pair of layups from Bellamy and Sims, Luster hit a 3-pointer from the top of the arc and Markovic followed it up with one her own to extend the lead to 30-18 with 7:44 remaining in the half. It was a 17-0 run in just 4:32.
• The first-half run was crucial in giving the Jaguars control of the game, but their defensive effort on Luke in the second half was what won it. Leading 41-34 at the half, Luke had already scored 13 points and grabbed four rebounds. In the second half though, she wouldn't score.
• It wasn't a different story though and IUPUI continued to play like they did during the 17-0 stretch in the first half. They came out firing on all cylinders in the second pushing their seven-point half-time lead to a game-high 14-point lead in under two minutes.
• Just like the first half, Markovic opened up the second with a basket on the IUPUI's first possession. Bellamy grabbed a defensive rebound on the other end and took it the length of the floor for a layup. After forcing Luke into a missed shot, Nicole Rogers hit one of her four 3-pointers to put IUPUI up 48-34.
• Western Illinois would answer, eventually cutting the lead to only four points at 59-55 with 8:07 remaining, but IUPUI came right back scoring the next eight points. Rogers's 3-pointer with 4:09 left capped off the run to give IUPUI a 67-55 lead.
• Rogers would hit one more 3-pointer to give the Jaguars a 10-point lead with just 2:34 left in the game. Western Illinois didn't threaten again.
• While the game was all but over, the best moment may have been with 0.9 seconds remaining. IUPUI was trying to run out the clock when Western Illinois decided to foul at the last moment. It gave head coach Austin Parkinson a chance to take the seniors off the floor, and they left the game to a standing ovation from the crowd of 602.

POSTSEASON AWARDS

• The Summit League announced its 2013-14 All-League Teams and individual honors on Thursday, March 6, and IUPUI had two players named All-Summit League performers in DeAirra Goss and Nevena Markovic.
• Goss was named a First-Team All-Summit League performer, while Markovic was voted on the Second-Team marking the second straight season that IUPUI had a representative on both teams.
• In her final season with the Jags, Goss has led IUPUI in scoring this season averaging 14.5 ppg. Goss has scored in double figures 19 times including eight 20-plus point outings. During Summit League play, the 5-10 guard elevated her scoring to 17.4 ppg, which ranks fourth in the conference.
• Following a conference-opening loss at South Dakota State on Jan. 9, IUPUI went on a nine-game winning streak allowing it to claim the second seed in the upcoming Summit League Tournament, and Goss scored in double figures in eight straight games from Jan. 16 to Feb. 13 where she averaged 19.6 ppg.
• In addition to her scoring, Goss also averaged 3.4 rpg, 2.1 apg and 1.1 spg, while shooting 47.3 percent from the floor, 42.9 percent from three and 71.8 percent from the free throw line.
• After a slow start to the conference season, Markovic elevated her level of play over the last 10 games of Summit League action. Over the first four games, Markovic averaged 5.0 ppg and shot just 36.3 percent from the floor, before finishing the final 10 games averaging 12.2 ppg on 49.4 percent shooting from the field during that stretch.
• Over the 14-game conference schedule, Markovic averaged 10.1 ppg while leading the team in rebounding with 6.1 ppg. The Wheaton, Ill.-native also was a presence on the defensive end of the floor and concluded the Summit League season tying for fourth in the conference in blocks at 0.9 bpg.
• Also on Thursday, CollegeSportsMadness.com released its 2013-14 All-Summit League performers and Goss and Markovic were selected to the first and second team, respectively, while Akilah Sims was selected as a Fourth-Team All-League performer.

SUMMIT LEAGUE TOURNAMENT

• For the second straight season, IUPUI enters the Summit League Tournament as the No. 2 seed.
• In each of the last two seasons, the Jaguars have advanced to the Summit League Semifinals, but failed to reach the Championship Game on both occasions.
• IUPUI is 8-13 all-time in the Summit League Tournament, including a 2-2 record under Austin Parkinson.
• The Jaguars have advanced to The Summit League Championship Game once since joining the conference during the 1998-99 campaign, which occurred back during the 2006-07 season.

AGAINST THE BISON

• This season, the Jaguars are 2-0 against North Dakota State winning by a 71-46 margin in Fargo, N.D., back on Jan. 11, before winning 77-53 in Indianapolis on Feb. 6.
• IUPUI has three players scoring in double figures against the Bison this season in DeAirra Goss, Nevena Markovic and Mikale Rogers.
• Goss is averaging 14.5 ppg against NDSU, while Rogers and Markovic are averaging 14.0 ppg and 11.0 ppg, respectively.
• Collectively, IUPUI is shooting 50.9 percent (58-of-114) from the field against NDSU this season, compared to 34.2 percent for NDSU (37-of-108).
• The Bison are averaging 17.0 to/g this season against the Jags, while IUPUI is committing 14.0 to/g against North Dakota State.
• In the two combined games, IUPUI has outscored NDSU 94-36 in points in the paint and 71-17 in bench points.
• NDSU has been more effective behind-the-arc against the Jags this season connecting on 38.5 percent (10-of-26) of its tries, while IUPUI is hitting 30.0 percent (6-of-20) from three against the Bison.

MID-MAJOR TOP-25

• One week after appearing in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll for the first time, the Jaguars moved up a spot in the rankings released on March 4.
• Last week, the Jags were 25th in the poll and they rose to 24th in this week's rankings receiving 58 votes.

WINNING TREND

• With wins over Omaha and Western Illinois to close out the regular-season, IUPUI set a new program record for wins with 21.
• It marked back-to-back seasons that IUPUI had reached 20 wins after the Jaguars had not reached 20 wins in a season in its Division-I era prior to Parkinson becoming head coach.
• In the past two seasons, IUPUI is 41-20, including 23-7 in Summit League play.

TAKING HER GAME TO NEW HEIGHTS

• Over the past three games, IUPUI's 6-4 forward Nevena Markovic has elevated her game just in time for the Summit League Tournament.
• In conference play, Markovic averaged 10.1 ppg and 6.1 rpg, but in the last three games her averages have gone up to 14.3 ppg and 8.7 rpg.
• Against IPFW on Feb. 22, Markovic scored 19 points and grabbed 10 boards for her first double-double since Dec. 21, and then followed that with 11 points and six boards in a win over Omaha.
• Then in the regular-season finale, Markovic posted her second double-double in three games with 13 points and 10 boards in a victory over Western Illinois.
• During this three-game stretch, Markovic is shooting 66.7 percent from the field and 57.1 percent from three.