OMAHA, Neb. – The IUPUI women's basketball team rallied from a 15-point halftime deficit but fell just short to Omaha on Thursday (Feb. 18) in a 57-54 loss on the road. The Jags outscored Omaha 35-23 in the second half but a scoring drought in the final 3:09 allowed Omaha to score the game's final seven points. The Jags (18-8, 9-4) dropped their first game in the month of February but remain in third place in The Summit League standings. 

"We've come out with poor effort and little ball movement in the opening half of two of the last three road games," Head Coach Austin Parkinson said. "Credit Omaha for the urgency they played with coming out of the gates."

Sophomore Danielle Lawrence scored a game-high 18 points and was influential in the third quarter comeback run. Freshman Sydney Hall added 10 points and junior Mikale Rogers tallied nine points and five rebounds.

Following a 4-2 lead early on, IUPUI hit a 1-for-13 drought through the remaining seven minutes of the first period. They trailed Omaha 19-7 after one quarter before leveling out in the second quarter. The Jags got six points from Lawrence in the second stanza but still trailed 34-19 at half. 

IUPUI was a different team in the second half. The Jags scored 15 unanswered in the first five minutes of the third quarter as they immediately erased the Mavericks' lead with a flurry of points off turnovers. Lawrence was influential in the run as she scored eight of the Jags' 15. Rogers chipped in five during the scoring spree as well. 

"I thought the kids did a good job of rallying in the second half to give ourselves a chance to win the game," Parkinson added. "I thought Danielle and Syd really came out with some toughness."

After trimming the deficit, IUPUI got locked into a defensive battle in the fourth quarter. The Jags finally gained a four-point advantage at 54-50 after a pair of field goals from Hall. A set of key blocks from Rogers in the fourth capped an impressive defensive quarter for Parkinson's squad, but the offensive woes haunted IUPUI down the stretch.

Another scoring drought over the game's final 3:09 kept IUPUI with 54 total points. Omaha still trailed until 19 seconds left when a 3-point shot from Remy Davenport gave the Mavericks a 55-54 lead. After two timeouts in the final possession, an IUPUI turnover gave Omaha possession as they capped the game with two free throws in the final seconds for the 57-54 final.

IUPUI was just 2-for-13 (15 percent) from the 3-point line in the game. The Jags owned the turnover battles as they committed just 11 turnovers to Omaha's 20. IUPUI also capitalized on those mistakes outscoring Omaha 19-6 in points off turnovers. 

"We have three games at home now and we need to get in the right frame of mind as we prepare for this stretch," Parkinson said. 

The Jags will play their last three games of the season at home in a seven-day span this upcoming week. IUPUI returns home this Sunday afternoon (Feb. 21) for a 2 p.m. tip as they play host to in-state rival IPFW.