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BROOKINGS, S.D. – Trying to find a silver lining in what has been a troubling road trip, the IUPUI women's basketball team (11-6, 1-3) couldn't snap out of its recent funk, falling to South Dakota State (13-4, 4-1) 49-68 Wednesday night (Jan. 11), pushing IUPUI to a three-game losing streak.  The loss caps a 0-3 showing on the Jags three-game road trip.

"This has been a really tough road trip for us all the way around," Head Coach Austin Parkinson said.
 
It was a tale of two halves, as the Jags were riddled by varying troubles from the start of the game to the finish.  IUPUI shot just .370 for the game, despite going 8-for-16 (.500) in the first half.  The Jags were hurt, however, by 11 first half turnovers, ending with 16 for the matchup.  The Jags maintained their strong shooting from long-range, going 7-for-16 (.438) from beyond the arc.  They also rattled off an 8-for-11 night from the charity stripe.  The Jackrabbits seized control of the paint early, outscoring the Jags 36-16 down low.  The Jackrabbits also outrebounded IUPUI 35-25.

"We played a really good team tonight that took us out of our comfort zone," Coach Parkinson added.  "I have faith in this team and we will get things figured out and bounce back."
 
Mikale Rogers led her team with 13 points and a team-high six rebounds, while teammate Holly Hoopingarner also finished in double figures with 10 points.  Sydney Hall and Danielle Lawrence both finished with nine points, as Caitlyn Tolen, Jenna Gunn, and Allex Brown also connected.
 
Hall kicked off the game with a three-point shot just 30 seconds into the action to put the Jags on top.  The fast start, however, was negated by what would be over five minutes of scoreless basketball by IUPUI.  Six turnovers marred the start of the action, as the Jags saw the Jackrabbits post nine points over the next five minutes, sending the teams into a media timeout.  Out of the break, Rogers ended the drought with a jumper to send the score to 5-9.  Roughly thirty seconds later, Lawrence would head to the free-throw line and knock down a pair of shots, followed a minute later by a Hoopingarner jumper.  Lawrence would tack on another free-throw, but the Jags couldn't push anything through the nylon for the remainder of the quarter, trailing 10-17.  Seven total turnovers hurt the Jags, but only one came through the final five minutes.  The Jags shot 3-for-5 for the quarter, going 1-for-2 from three-point range.  The Jags were hammered on the glass, losing the early rebound battle 2-10.
 
Similar to the start of the first, Hoopingarner kicked off the second quarter with a three-point shot just seconds into the action from the left corner.  Shortly after picking up a block, Rogers hit on the other end to cut into the scoring deficit, pushing things to 15-19.  After a Jackrabbits bucket, Hoopingarner hit from the right corner for a triple, making it a one score game, 18-21.  After an IUPUI timeout, Rogers picked up her third basket in as many shots, followed by a Hall three-pointer on a setup from Byrd.  Once again, a scoring drought plagued the Jags, as they went scoreless for the final 3:50.  The teams headed into the locker room with the score 23-33.  The Jags shot a solid 8-for-16 in the first half, but coughed up the ball 11 times and were beaten up in the paint and on the glass.  The Jackrabbits won the first half rebounding battle 16-10, and outscored IUPUI in the paint 22-4. 
 
After a pair of free-throws by SDSU to start the second half, Rogers hit on a jumper for her fourth bucket of the game just over a minute into the action.  Gunn broke up nearly two minutes of scoreless ball, hitting a jumper to cut into a lopsided quarter.  IUPUI saw its deficit grow to 17 points, as a 4-11 quarter in favor of SDSU sent the teams into a media timeout with the score 27-44.  To that point, the Jags were shooting just 2-for-8 in the frame.  A single free-throw by Lawrence broke up nearly four minutes of scoreless ball for the Jags, but the Jags continued to struggle from the field.  They finished the quarter shooting just 2-for-15, as the Jackrabbits slugged their way to a huge 5-21 quarter.  Heading into the final frame, the Jackrabbits led the Jags, 28-54. 
 
Brown tallied her first points of the game a minute into the final quarter, but the effort seemed in vain as IUPUI was all but deflated.  Suddenly, Lawrence hit her first three-pointer and first field goal of the game a minute later, Hoopingarner netted a pair of free-throws, and Tolen hit her first bucket of the game on a jumper to mark a 9-0 run by IUPUI.  The dash pushed the score to 37-57, as the Jags had a steep hill to climb.  After an SDSU layup, Rogers knocked down her second three-pointer of the season, followed quickly by a Lawrence layup.  Rogers two free-throws pushed it to 44-61, but a Jackrabbits three-point shot sent it back to a 20-point deficit.  Gunn would hit a layup with a minute and a half remaining, and Hall would rip a three a minute later, but the late effort didn't have the clock on its side.  The game finished with the score 49-68.  The Jags owned the quarter 21-14.
 
With the loss, IUPUI will return home to host Denver Saturday (Jan. 14) at 3 p.m. EST, the first of three-straight home games.
 
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