ATHENS, Ohio – The IUPUI women's basketball takes a two-game winning streak in to a tough matchup at Ohio on Saturday (Dec. 2). It is a rematch of a game from last year that Ohio took on the Jags home court.
IUPUI is off to a 5-1 start for the third-straight season after beating Memphis 80-57 on Wednesday (Nov. 29).
Danielle Lawrence led the Jags with a career-high 38 points and
Macee Williams and
Holly Hoopingarner joined Lawrence in double-figures.
Head coach Austin Parkinson's squad is on a run having outscored opponents by an average of 15.5 points per game and have scored 80 or more points in three of the six games on the season. The Jags scored 80 or more points just three times all last season.
Fast starts have been the key for IUPUI who have yet to trail in any of the five wins this year, including jumping out to a 10-2 lead against Memphis the last time on the court.
Aided by the career-high 38 points her last time out, Lawrence leads the team in scoring at 17.3 points per game. Lawrence is also the top three-point shooter on the team with 13 makes and shooting 38 percent from deep.
Sydney Hall and Hoopingarner are tied for second on the team with 9.8 points per game and Williams is fourth at 9.5 and is tops on the squad with 7.5 rebounds.
Jenna Gunn has been the main facilitator for the offense with 3.2 assists per game. She is followed by freshman
Agatha Beier at 2.3 per game.
Defense has been the key for the Jags on the early season as IUPUI has held opponents to 56 points per game and is forcing 19.8 turnovers per contest.
SCOUTING OHIO – The Bobcats will be a tough test for IUPUI as Ohio comes in to the game with a 4-1 record and is outscoring opponents by an average of 12 points per game. The biggest advantage Ohio has had on the season comes in the turnover department as the Bobcats have forced an average of 29 turnovers per game, leading to a +17.2 turnover margin, mostly done with steals as Ohio is averaging 16.8 steals per game.
The Bobcats feature three players in double figures with Cierra Hooks and Dominique Doseck tied for the team lead at 12.6 points per game. Amani Burke is third on the team at 11.4. Rebounding has been an issue for Ohio as Hooks is their leading rebounder with 5.2 a contest but the Bobcats are -11.4 in rebounding margin this season.
LAST MATCHUP – IUPUI and Ohio met up last year in The Jungle with Ohio coming out on top 71-65. Of the three leading scorers for Ohio in the game, only Taylor Agler returns for the Bobcats. Ohio shot 40 percent from the field and held IUPUI to 37 from the floor as Ohio erased a 10-point lead the Jags built up in the first quarter. IUPUI fell behind by nine in the fourth but battled all the way back to pull within one before coming up short on the comeback attempt.
QUOTABLE - "Ohio is consistently one of the top teams in the MAC conference every year. Defensively, they force a lot of turnovers and shoot a high number of threes on offense." said Parkinson.
"It will be a fun game because both teams are off to great starts. We will have to continue to get after it on defense and move the ball on offense." said Parkinson
