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INDIANAPOLIS – Despite seeing a 13-point first quarter lead slip away, the IUPUI women's basketball team (14-6, 4-3) showed signs of dominance on a regular basis throughout their contest with North Dakota State (5-15, 3-4), dropping the Bison 71-58 Saturday night (Jan. 21).  The win caps a perfect homestand for IUPUI, as they went 3-0 over the course of three games.
 
"I was really excited about how we came out," Head Coach Austin Parkinson said of his team.  "We talked about coming out aggressive and moving the basketball.  We shot the ball really well in the first quarter."
 
The Jags combined to shoot 25-for-49 (.510) for the game and 10-for-24 (.417) from three-point range.  The IUPUI defense harassed the North Dakota State players into turning the ball over 20 times, which resulted in 27 points off of the turnovers.
 
"(The homestand) has been really important, because we've gone back to playing good defense," Coach Parkinson added.  "If we're going to be successful on the road going forward, we've got to be able to do that."
 
Danielle Lawrence led her team for the second-straight game with 27 points, shooting 8-for-16 from the field.  She added a pair of steals, two rebounds, a block and an assist.
 
"I thought Danielle was excellent tonight," Coach Parkinson said of the junior.  "She's had back-to-back games where she's shooting the ball well from outside, she's showing balance around the rim, and really playing at a high level."
 
Point guards Sydney Hall and Holly Hoopingarner joined Lawrence in double-figures, scoring 11 and 10 points, respectively.  Hall dished out five assists, pulled in two rebounds and nabbed two steals.  Hoopingarner added three assists as the duo combined to shoot 5-for-9 from three-point range.
 
"The other thing I thought was key tonight was our point guard play," Coach Parkinson said of the two player's effort.  "They really guarded their position well, they played a lot of minutes, and they were able to get up and pressure (the other team).  If our point guards can continue to do that, it's really going to be a benefit for us."
 
Mikale Rogers finished with eight points and seven rebounds while tallying three blocks, as Jenna Gunn showed tremendous hustle on both ends of the floor.  Gunn picked up seven points and five rebounds with three assists and two steals.  Allex Brown and Caitlyn Tolen also scored for IUPUI.
 
"Allex Brown stepped up for us in the second half, including knocking down a big three-pointer," Coach Parkinson added.  "I thought Jenna Gunn looked like the player we've seen in the past, she had great energy, she was active on both ends of the floor and took a couple big charges for us."
 
A minute into the action, Hall kicked out the ball from the paint to the left corner where she found a wide open Tolen who dropped it in for three points.  Hall followed that possession with her first triple on the next trip down.  Gunn stripped the ball then took it the length of the floor on the next defensive trip, forcing a very early Bison' timeout with the score at 8-2.  On an inbounds pass, Lawrence got the ball beyond the left-side arc and dropped it in for three points, the third converted long-shot in as many tries.  After a Lawrence free-throw, Rogers dropped in a turn-around jumper on a setup from Gunn.  Tolen would later hit a jumper with two and a half minutes left to push the Jags to a 16-6 lead.  Tolen charged the lane, then kicked it out to the left corner for Hall who drained a triple with under two minutes to play.  Into the final minute, Hoopingarner dropped in a quick three-pointer, then Lawrence found Hoopingarner, who found Gunn streaking to drop in a layup just before the buzzer.  The Jags led 24-11 at the end of the first quarter.  IUPUI shot 9-for-12 in the quarter, and 5-for-6 from three-point range.  The Jags forced seven Bison' turnovers, but committed five themselves.  The Jags lost the rebound battle 5-8.
 
Lawrence made an insanely acrobatic play to begin the second quarter, fighting through a double-team to drop in a layup.  Hall robbed a NDSU player then took it the distance for a fast-break layup, pushing her team ahead 29-14.  Rogers added a free-throw, Lawrence hit a short-range jumper, and the Jags held a lead but saw it start to dwindle away.  After leading by as many as 13, the Bison began hitting three-point shots, and climbed back to within six.  Rogers answered back with a turnaround jumper, but four-straight from NDSU made it 34-30.  They'd add one more just before the half, as it became a one-possession game.   The Bison won the quarter 21-10, as the teams battled to nine rebounds each.  The Jags shot just 4-for-15 in the second quarter, as the Bison fired to a 9-for-15 tune.
 
Just 15 seconds into the second half, Rogers opened up the scoring with a turnaround jumper, trying to set the tone for a better third quarter.  Uncharacteristic of the Jags, Lawrence made 1-of-2 free-throws, setting the team at just 4-for-8 on the day to that point.  Applying the pressure in the paint, the Bison earned a trip to the free-throw line, knocking down both shots to claim their first lead of the game at 39-40.  Hall quickly answered the deficit, knocking down a three-point shot on the next possession to put the Jags back up.  After a three from North Dakota State, Hoopingarner made a good step-in jumper in a back-and-forth affair.  Hoopingarner then thread-the-needle on a pinpoint pass by the rim, setting up Lawrence for the layup.  The Bison tied the game on an and-one play, but Lawrence broke the tie with two free-throws with 1:48 left on the clock.  She then added to it with a physical left-side layup on the next trip down.  Hoopingarner added to it with under a minute to play, making a quick decision to attack the rim and drop in a layup.  The Jags would hold on defense and end the quarter with a six-point edge, 52-46. 
 
The fourth quarter started with Hoopingarner draining a left corner three-pointer on a setup from Tolen.  Lawrence then hit from distance on a setup from Hall, pushing the Jags back up by double-digits.  Brown took to the air from the right-side, hitting her first three-point shot and forcing a North Dakota State timeout.  After the break, Rogers pushed the ball out to Lawrence, who again hit from long-range.  The Jags started the quarter shooting 4-for-4 from three-point range, and were winning the frame 12-3.  After a pair of timeouts, Gunn hit from the right-side on a jumper, giving the Jags their biggest lead of the game.  Five-straight points from the Bison narrowed the gap, but the Jags were still holding an 11-point edge with 1:14 to play.  Lawrence hit with under a minute to play, then added two free-throws.  The Jags would hold the ball and let the clock drain, winning the game 71-58. 
 
With the win, the Jags now head to the road, as the team prepares to face Western Illinois on Wednesday (Jan. 25) in Macomb, Illinois.
 
"Western Illinois is probably the most explosive team in the League with their shooting, and their defense is very underrated this year," Coach Parkinson added.  "They create a lot of turnovers.  We're going to have to go on the road and take care of the basketball."
 
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