BROOKINGS, S.D. – For the second straight game, turnovers hurt the IUPUI women's basketball team as it couldn't overcome 21 miscues resulting in an 82-53 loss to South Dakota State Saturday afternoon at Frost Arena.
 
With the loss, IUPUI fell to 14-15 overall and 9-7 in the Summit League, while the Jackrabbits improved to 21-8 overall and 12-4 in the conference.
 
Akilah Sims led IUPUI with 13 points, 11 of which came in the second half, but she would be the team's lone double-digit scorer on the afternoon. SDSU had five double-digit scorers led by Megan Waytashek's 21 points.
 
Two nights after turnovers proved costly in a 16-point loss at South Dakota, turnovers were again an issue, but SDSU also outscored IUPUI 16-6 in second-chance points and did most of its damage inside outscoring the Jaguars 44-28 in the paint. South Dakota State also outscored the Jags at the charity stripe 21-5.
 
The Jags didn't get off to the start it had expected as it took seven minutes for them to hit their first shot and connected on just three of their first 10 attempts while SDSU hit 11-of-18 during that same time frame to seize a 25-6 lead midway through the first half.  IUPUI didn't help itself as eight turnovers in the first 10 minutes resulted in 11 points for South Dakota State.
 
An 8-2 Jaguars run featuring a three-point play from Mikale Rogers and a three from Caitlin Tolen trimmed the IUPUI deficit to 28-14 with around seven minutes to go, but another lengthy Jags scoring drought ensued allowing the Jackrabbits to extend their lead to 40-14 with two minutes to play.
 
Two field goals from Martha Burse, including a three, and a jumper from Tolen in the final two minutes sent IUPUI into the break trailing 42-21.
 
Unfortunately for IUPUI, the second half got off to a similar start as the first with the Jaguars missing their first three shots and committing a turnover, while SDSU hit 3-of-5 from the floor to extend their lead to 48-21, forcing a Jags timeout.
 
Unfortunately, the Jags just couldn't make any sort of push as the South Dakota State lead had reached 30 with 10 minutes to go.
 
The Jaguars closed within 22 points with about four minutes to go, but that would be as close as they got before the Jackrabbits eventually claimed the 82-53 win.
 
With South Dakota's win over Western Illinois on Saturday, the Coyotes claimed the regular-season title for the first time and they will be the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Summit League Tournament March 7-10 in Sioux Falls, S.D. The Jackrabbits will be the No. 2 seed, and Oral Roberts will be the No. 3 seed after winning the three-team tiebreaker with Western Illinois and IUPUI. The Leathernecks and Jaguars are the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds, respectively, and they will face off in the quarterfinal round of the conference tournament on Sunday, March 8, at 1 p.m. ET at the Denny Sanford Premier Center.