INDIANAPOLIS – Looking to respond after having their five-game winning streak snapped last week, the IUPUI women's basketball team (19-8, 10-4) defeated IPFW (6-21, 2-12) 63-52 Sunday (Feb. 21), giving head coach
Austin Parkinson his 94th career win while also pulling in his 62nd victory at home, overtaking former coach Kris Simpson for most all-time at the Jungle.
The Jags were led in the contest by
Jenna Gunn, who put up a double-double with an 18 point, 10 rebound effort in the victory. The scoring output was a season-high for the sophomore forward, and one point shy of her career-high. As a team, IUPUI shot 22-for-46 (48 percent) in the game, adding three three-pointers on 13 attempts.
The first quarter got started with a bang for IUPUI, as
Sydney Hall connected on a three-pointer as the last second ticked off the shot clock. After the Jags' added a free throw,
Akilah Sims knifed through the lane for a left-handed layup to pad the IUPUI lead, 6-2. Sims would add another quick layup following the media timeout on a slick pass by
Kelsi Byrd to double up IPFW, 8-4. Byrd dished out another dime on the next Jags' possession, finding
Shaquira Scott down low for a layup.
Allex Brown got herself into the action on a layup following a quick pass from Sims with 1:38 left on the clock to make it 14-7. The Mastodons responded with a small run to end the first quarter, outscoring IUPUI 5-1 to trim the Jags' lead, 15-12.
After a stalemate in the first two minutes of the second quarter, Scott nailed a 10-foot jumper from the right side to start the scoring for the Jag. Hall knocked down her second three-pointer of the contest on the next possession to grow the lead, 20-12. After roughly three minutes of no scoring, Sims added another basket on a setup from
Martha Burse at the 4:11 mark, extending the lead to 10 points. For nearly seven minutes, the stingy defense of IUPUI denied the Mastodons' offense, as IPFW finally netted a bucket at the 3:04 mark. Gunn answered quickly however, putting away her first layup on another assist from Sims. Hall would add a layup on a hard fake to rid herself of the defense, the final score for IUPUI as they would head into the break leading 28-20.
Out of the break,
Danielle Lawrence answered an IPFW bucket with a top-of-the-arc three-pointer, starting the third quarter, 31-23. The combination of a jumper by
Mikale Rogers and a takeaway that led to a layup by Lawrence forced IPFW to burn a timeout, 35-23. Out of the break, Gunn took the ball coast-to-coast for a layup to extend the IUPUI lead by two points. Lawrence dropped in a touch layup on a sweet spin move off the inbound at the 5:50 mark to make it a 14-point lead. Gunn added two free throws, a layup, and a rebound on a quick six-point trip for the Jags', putting the team up 45-28. For the quarter, IUPUI shot 7-for-13 (54 percent) from the field.
Following a 6-1 run at the end of the third quarter, IPFW started the fourth by continuing to fight their way back into the game, keeping the Jaguars scoreless for nearly three minutes while also adding five points to extend it to a 12-3 run at the 6:43 mark , setting the score at 48-40. Gunn and Lawrence made good on a pair of layups on back-to-back possessions to end the run and level out the momentum, 52-40. Following an exchange of baskets, Gunn converted a three-point play on an and-one, putting the Jags' back up by double-digits. IPFW went into foul-mode late, but the Jags' made good on a number of free throws, going 10-for-13 (77 percent) in the second half to eventually close out the game, 63-52.
The Jaguars will be back in action on Thursday (Feb. 25) as they host South Dakota State at 7 p.m. in the second-to-last regular season game of the 2015-16 season. As part of the
NCAA's Beyond the Baseline initiative, interested individuals can attend a pregame networking event on the IUPUI campus prior to Thursday's game. Thursday's game will be seen on IUPUIJags.com as Scott Agness (pxp) describes the action.
The Summit League Championships will begin March 5th in Sioux Falls, S.D..
