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VERMILLION, S.D. - The Jaguars will be on the road for the final two games of the regular-season. The first of those two games is at Summit League leader South Dakota on Thursday, Feb. 26.
 
GAMEDAY INFORMATION

• Thursday's game is set to begin at 8 p.m. ET at The Dakota Dome.
• Morgan Adcock will have the call on IUPUIJags.com, which will begin just prior to the start of the game.
• The game will be streamed live on USDCoyotes.com for $9.95.
• Live stats will be available through IUPUIJags.com.

 
ABOUT SOUTH DAKOTA

• The Coyotes had their six-game win streak snapped on Saturday dropping their record to 21-6 overall and 11-3 in the Summit League.
• Despite the loss, USD has won 10 of its last 12 games, and one of those two losses was at the hands of IUPUI back on Jan. 24.
• South Dakota has a one-game lead in the Summit League standings over South Dakota State heading into the final week of the regular-season as it looks for its first conference regular-season title.
• The Coyotes are led in scoring by Raeshel Contreras and her 15.9 ppg ranks fourth in the conference. Nicole Seekamp is the other double-figure scorer at 14.4 ppg.
• USD is scoring a league-best 79.6 ppg this season, and it also ranks in the Top 2 in the conference in all games in field goal percentage  (1st, .447), free throws made (1st, 445), free throw percentage (2nd, .756), offensive rebounds (1st, 13.7), rebounds (2nd, 41.4), assists (1st, 16.5) and steals (2nd, 8.3).
• South Dakota also does a great job taking care of the ball committing 14.6 turnovers per game, while owning a +0.9 turnover margin.
• USD is an impressive 12-0 at home this season.

 
THE SERIES WITH THE COYOTES

• IUPUI took the first meeting this season in Indianapolis to trim USD's lead in the all-time series to 5-3.
• South Dakota is 3-0 all-time against the Jaguars at the Dakota Dome winning by an average of 14.3 ppg.

 
LAST TIME OUT ...

• It was Senior Day for IUPUI at The Jungle on Saturday (Feb. 21) and the Jags couldn't have honored senior Nevena Markovic any better than they did by posting an 85-52 win over Oral Roberts in Summit League action.
• In her final home game as a Jaguar, Markovic scored 15 points and added seven rebounds, and Akilah Sims had a career night scoring a career-high 30 points on 11-of-16 shooting from the floor and 7-of-7 shooting from the stripe.
• It marked the first time since March 11, 2013, that the Jags had a player score at least 30 points in a game against a D-I opponent. That night, Kerah Nelson dropped 32 points in the Summit League Tournament against South Dakota.
• Jenna Gunn also reached double figures with 10 points, and in total the Jags shot 49.2 percent from the floor, 46.7 percent from three and 81.8 percent from the line as it improved to 14-13 overall and 9-5 in the Summit League.
• The win put the Jags over .500 for the first time this season, and it was their largest Summit League victory since defeating Centenary by 42 back on Feb. 18, 2008.
• Oral Roberts' Vicky McIntyre, who averaged 15.1 ppg and 15.6 rpg entering the contest and scored 21 points and grabbed 22 rebounds in the first meeting, was held in check by the Jags interior defense. McIntyre finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds, with nine of those points and eight of those rebounds coming in the second half when the Jags were in front by 20-plus points.
• It took the Jaguars a few minutes to figure out the ORU defense, but a 21-6 run over a 9:28 stretch put them in front 26-12 by the under-eight minute media timeout. 14 of the Jags first 26 points came from Sims, who started 5-for-5 from the field and 3-for-3 from the stripe.
• Three's from Danielle Lawrence and Kelsi Byrd helped IUPUI's lead reach 20 points, 35-15, with 4:30 to go, and in the final seconds of the half a Markovic triple from the left wing capped off an impressive 20 minutes sending the Jaguars into the break with a 47-21 advantage.
• Sims didn't miss in the first 20 minutes going 5-5 from the field, including 1-1 from three, and 7-of-7 from the line. In total, IUPUI shot 51.6 percent from the field compared to 36.0 percent for ORU, and the Jags outscored the Golden Eagles 11-2 at the line.
• The Golden Eagles came out of the half and hit four-of-five from the floor and four-of-four from the line in the first five minutes to outscore IUPUI 12-8, but a 10-1 Jags response featuring four points from Sims, four points from Gunn and two free throws from Markovic pushed the lead to 31 points, 65-34, with 10:14 to go.
• Down the stretch, ORU never threatened and the Jaguars finished off the 85-52 victory.

 
CONSISTENCY IS THE KEY

• Since returning from injury on Jan. 22, against Denver, Akilah Sims has turned into IUPUI's most consistent scorer and there's no doubt that has played a key role in IUPUI winning seven of its last nine games.
• Beginning with the game against the Pioneers, Sims has scored in double figures in each of the last nine games, which is the longest double-figure scoring streak of her career.
• During that stretch, she has scored 20 or more points twice, including scoring a career-high 30 against Oral Roberts on Feb. 21.
• Over the last nine games, Sims is averaging 16.1 ppg, 5.7 rpg and 1.5 apg, while shooting 51.0 percent from the floor and 39.3 percent from three.
• In Summit League play, Sims is eighth in the league in scoring at 14.8 ppg.

 
GETTING PAST THE ROAD WOES

• IUPUI struggled on the road for a majority of the season dropping its first eight true road games of the season, but IUPUI responded in its last two road games winning at Denver and Fort Wayne.
• In their first eight road games, the Jaguars averaged 55.9 ppg while giving up 68.5 ppg.
• The Jags also shot 37.1 % from the field, including 19.8 % from three, compared to 43.6 % for opponents, including 34.5 % from three.
• Distributing the ball also was difficult for IUPUI as it averaged 7.6 assists per game against committing 17.4 turnovers per game.
• In the last two road games, those numbers have drastically changed as four players are averaging in double-figures helping IUPUI post 73.0 ppg during that stretch.
• The Jaguars have shot 45.3 % from the field and 39.3 % from three over the past two games away from home, coupled with 85.3 % shooting from the free throw stripe.
• More impressively, IUPUI had a positive assist-to-turnover ratio in the past two road contests distributing 25 assists against 23 turnovers.
• Nevena Markovic has been the catalyst during that stretch averaging 16.5 ppg, 10.0 rpg and shooting 52.0 % from the field (13-of-25).

 
WHAT LIES AHEAD

• With two games left in the regular-season, the Jags have an opportunity to accomplish something for the first time.
• One more conference win would give IUPUI double-digit league victories for the first time since joining the Mid-Con/Summit League in 1998-99.
• IUPUI won 12 conference games and finished second in 2012-13, before posting 11 league wins en route to a second-place showing again in 2013-14.
• Seeding in the upcoming Summit League Tournament is also on the line this weekend. IUPUI and Western Illinois, who are tied at 9-5 in the league standings, both play South Dakota and South Dakota State this weekend.
• The Top-2 teams in the league standings will open the Summit League Tournament on Saturday, March 7, while the No. 3 and 4 seeds will start their run to a tournament title on Sunday, March 8.