INDIANAPOLIS – IUPUI used a strong second half and got a career-high from Macee Williams to overwhelm Oakland 80-64, on Saturday (Jan. 13).

Williams notched her third double-double of the season with a career-high 24 points and 10 rebounds. The freshman was 9-for-10 from the field and finished 6-for-7 from the free throw line.

"She's a stud. What can you say?" said head coach #Austin Parkinson. "The neat thing about it is that it is not like we run a ton of plays for her because she gets a lot of her stuff on offensive rebounds and dumpoffs. Her performance tonight was impressive."

"Whoever was playing point and Danielle, and everyone on the team was setting me up," said Williams. "They would drive and make the defense collapse on them and then I would be wide open."

Danielle Lawrence scored 19 points, hitting 4-of-7 threes and moved in to 8^th place all-time on the IUPUI scoring list. Sydney Hall reached double-figures for the third-straight game with 12 points and Tamya Sims added 10.

IUPUI (13-3, 5-0 Horizon) struggled early in the first half turning the ball over as they finished with 10 turnovers in the first quarter and 15 in the first 20 minutes. The sloppy play from IUPUI allowed Oakland to build a 12-point lead at 30-18 with 6:02 left in the quarter. The Jags rebounded with a 7-0 run to end the quarter to knot things up at halftime.

The Jags continued the run to open the second half with Jenna Gunn scoring the first four points of the third quarter and after an 18-2 run that spanned the second and third quarter, capped by a layup from Hall, the Jags were up 46-37.

Oakland (10-7, 3-3 Horizon) would keep the game tight pulling within two multiple times in the third quarter but IUPUI always found an answer. After a three-point play from Sha'Keya Graves made it a one score game, Hall responded with a three to give the Jags a five-point lead going in to the final quarter.

The fourth quarter proved to be all IUPUI as it started with three-straight layups from Williams, followed by another three from Hall. After a free throw from Williams, IUPUI had opened the quarter on a 10-0 run and taken a 15 points lead. The Jags would use another 8-0 run later in the quarter to increase their lead to 20 as they held the Golden Grizzlies to just seven fourth-quarter points.

"Oakland is a talented team and Jeff [Tungate] does a great job," said Parkinson. "Once we stopped throwing the ball away, we had one turnover in the second half, we got our defense set and from there we were able to get a rhythm."

"We just started to remember our gameplan," said Williams. "We started to remember who were shooters and who was more of a driver and our help defense was there."

Oakland came in to the game as the second-best rebounding team in the Horizon League but IUPUI owned the glass, outrebounding the Golden Grizzlies 40-22. The Jags held a 13-4 advantage on the offensive glass and had 16 second chance points. Behind Williams, Allex Brown pulled down seven rebounds, while Sims and Hall each had five.

"We made a point of emphasis after Christmas, the last couple of games before Christmas we really struggled," said Parkinson. "We put a point of emphasis on it and our kids have really bought in."

The Jags stopped turning the ball over in the second half as well, only committing one turnover in the final 20 minutes of play. The defense also clamped down on one of the best three-point shooting teams in the conference, holding Oakland to 4-for-11 from behind the arc in the second half after the Golden Grizzlies with 4-for-6 from deep in the first half.

IUPUI finishes out its three-game homestand on Monday, Jan. 15 when the Jags play host to Green Bay. Scheduled tip-off for the matchup with the Phoenix is at 7:00 p.m.