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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - The fifth-seeded IUPUI Jaguars begin the Summit League Tournament on Sunday, March 8, when they square off against No. 4 seed Western Illinois in the conference quarterfinals.
 
GAMEDAY INFORMATION

• Sunday's game is set to begin at 1 p.m. ET at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls, S.D.
• The game will be televised on Midco Sports Network based out of Sioux Falls, S.D. The game will also be available on ESPN Full Court and ESPN3. Jay Elsen and Greg Stemen will handle play by play and analyst duties, with Brian Shawn as the sideline reporter.
• Morgan Adcock will have the call on IUPUIJags.com, which will begin just prior to the start of the game.
• Live stats will be available through IUPUIJags.com.

 
ABOUT WESTERN ILLINOIS

• The Leathernecks are 17-12 overall, and finished the Summit League schedule with a 9-7 record.
• The Leathernecks are second in the conference in scoring at 72.9 ppg, and they have made 218 three's on the season to rank second in the league.
• WIU is paced on both ends of the floor by Ashley Luke, who leads the conference in scoring at 19.7 ppg, and ranks second in rebounding at 11.4 rpg.
• The Leathernecks also take care of the basketball committing a league low 14.1 turnovers per game, while sitting atop the statistical rankings in steals at 8.4 spg.
• While Luke gets most of the attention, she has a great supporting cast. Tori Niemann is second in the conference in field goal percentage at 53.7 percent, Michelle Farrow is third in three-point percentage at 41.2 %, and Niemann and Sophie Reichelt are also scoring in double figures at 10.8 ppg and 10.2 ppg, respectively.
• Defensively, Western Illinois is third in the league in field goal percentage defense yielding a 39.8 percent shooting to its opponents.

 
THE SERIES WITH THE LEATHERNECKS

• Western Illinois is 25-11 all-time against IUPUI, and it swept the season series this season.
• In the 36 previous meetings, the Jags and Leathernecks have only met three times in postseason play with WIU posting a 2-1 record in those contests.
• The last postseason meeting was on March 4, 2007, and IUPUI claimed a 56-51 win.

 
LAST TIME OUT ...

• For the second straight game, turnovers hurt IUPUI 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.

 
TRIO EARNS ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS

• The Summit League released its 2015 All-League teams on Thursday, March 5, and the Jaguars had three players make All-League teams.
• Akilah Sims was tabbed a Second-Team All-Summit League selection, Nevena Markovic earned Honorable-Mention All-Summit League honors and Shaquira Scott took home Summit League All-Newcomer Team accolades.
• Sims led IUPUI in scoring during the Summit League portion of the schedule averaging 14.2 ppg, while ranking second on the team in rebounding with 5.5 rpg.
• The Fort Wayne, Ind.-native started conference play with a double-double in a win over Fort Wayne on Jan. 4, but injured her ankle during the next game at North Dakota State and missed the ensuing three games. She made her return on Jan. 22 and managed to score in double figures in 10 of the last 11 games, highlighted by a career-high 30-point effort in a 33-point win over Oral Roberts on Feb. 21.
• Sims' Summit League scoring average ranked ninth in the league, and she also ranked in the Top 10 in the league in field goals made (8th, 5.2), field goal percentage (9th, .489) and 3-point field goal percentage (10th, .359) in conference-only games.
• Markovic, who was a Second-Team All-Conference selection a season ago, finished second on the team in scoring at 12.1 ppg while leading the team in rebounding at 6.6 ppg over the 16-game league slate. In Summit League play, the 6-4 forward scored in double figures in 11 of the 14 games she appeared in, including reaching double digits in eight straight games from Jan. 24 to Feb. 21.
• Markovic notched a pair of double-doubles in conference play, and she ranked in the Top 10 in the conference in field goal percentage (7th, .504) and free throw percentage (2nd, .906) in league action.
• In her first season with the Jags, Scott was an effective scorer for IUPUI averaging 10.3 ppg in conference play. Scott ranked in the Top 10 in league-only games in offensive rebounds with 34, and she scored in double figures in eight of the 16 Summit League contests. In two of those games, she erupted for 20-plus points, including a 23-point effort in a win over North Dakota State on Feb. 19.

 
ROGERS NAMED SIXTH WOMAN OF THE YEAR

• In addition to Sims, Markovic and Scott being named to Summit League All-Conference Teams, sophomore forward Mikale Rogers was named the Sixth Woman of the Year.
• Rogers becomes the second player in program history to claim the league's Sixth Woman of the Year honor joining Jernisha Cann, who won the award during the 2005-06 season.
• Rogers averaged 8.1 ppg in Summit League action, while ranking sixth in the league in blocks at 0.9 bpg.
• Rogers scored in double-figures in five games in conference play, highlighted by a season-high 21-point effort at Omaha on Jan. 17.

 
SEASON SERIES VS. THE LEATHERNECKS

• Western Illinois took both meetings this season winning at home by 11, before earning a seven-point win in Indianapolis on Feb. 14.
• In the two meetings this season, IUPUI averaged 62.0 ppg, compared to 71.0 ppg for WIU. The Leathernecks shot 46.3 percent from the field in the two contests compared to 37.0 percent shooting for the Jags, but both teams struggled from three shooting below 25.0 percent.
• The Leathernecks were more effective getting to the line hitting 35-of-43 (81.4%) compared to 23-of-36 shooting (63.9%) for IUPUI.
• IUPUI had three double-digit scorers against WIU with Akilah Sims leading the way with 17.0 ppg, while adding 8.0 rpg. Nevena Markovic averaged 12.5 ppg and 7.5 rpg against the Leathernecks, while Kelsi Byrd added 10.0 ppg.
• Luke led the way for Western Illinois with 24.0 ppg and 13.0 rpg, while shooting 65.5 percent. Michelle Maher scored 14.5 ppg against the Jags along with Tori Niemann's 11.5 ppg.

 
POINTS IN THE PAINT

• Over the last 10 games, points in the paint have been an important statistic for the Jaguars.
• IUPUI is 6-4 in the last 10 games, and in the six wins the Jaguars have outscored their opponent in the paint, while in the four losses the opponent has outscored IUPUI in the key.
• In the six wins, the Jags are scoring 36.7 ppg in the paint compared to 23.7 ppg for their opponents.
• In the four losses, IUPUI is scoring 28.0 ppg in the paint, while the opposition is scoring 37.0 ppg in the paint.

 
POSTSEASON UNDER PARKINSON

• In his five seasons as the head coach of the IUPUI women's basketball team, IUPUI has played in nine postseason games and the Jags are 4-5.
• Six of those nine games have been in the Summit League Tournament and IUPUI is 3-3 in the conference tournament making the semifinals in each of the past three years.
• The Jags are 3-0 in the quarterfinals under Parkinson and 0-3 in the semifinals. The first of those three quarterfinals victories came in 2012 when IUPUI was the No. 5 seed and it defeated the fourth-seeded Bison of North Dakota State, 80-64.
• The other three postseason games have been in the WNIT the past two seasons.