INDIANAPOLIS – It did not come easy, but IUPUI women's basketball clinched the No. 2 seed in next week's Horizon League Women's Basketball Tournament with a 56-54 win over Northern Kentucky.

The Jags (21-8, 13-5 Horizon) sent their seniors, Jenna Gunn and Danielle Lawrence, off with a win in what could be the last game for the two at The Jungle.

In fact, it was the seniors that led the way for the Jags as Lawrence led the team with 15 points and Gunn tallied 11 points on 5-for-8 shooting. Macee Williams scored 13 points to be the third Jaguar in double-figures.

IUPUI had to hold on to win the game last. Northern Kentucky tied the game at 46 with 6:03 left in the game. From there the Jaguars buckled down, holding the Norse scoreless for almost the next six minutes as IUPUI went on a 7-0 run.

Lawrence started the run with a layup and Williams added three points. Sydney Hall added two free throws to end the run. Lawrence added three free throws down the stretch to close out the game for IUPUI.

IUPUI looked like they might run away with the win as they closed out the first quarter on a 14-5 run capped by a deep three from Sydney Roule at the buzzer. The run began with jumpers from Williams sandwiching a layup from Gunn. Later in the run, Gunn hit another layup and Lawrence continued with three free throws. Roule's three was the beginning of a 9-0 run that saw a jumper from Tamya Sims followed by layups from Lawrence and Williams. 

After the Jags scored the first six points of the second quarter and found themselves up 25-10, foul trouble to Lawrence and Williams sparked a Northern Kentucky run.

The Norse exploded on an 18-3 run to pull within two, including 12 straight points. Lawrence broke the run with a layup to end the half and keep the Jags up by four.

The rest of the way was tight with IUPUI never leading by more than four, but every run by Northern Kentucky was also matched by IUPUI as the Jags never led the Norse take the lead, despite facing three ties.

The Jags defense forced the Norse in to 20 turnovers, with 12 of them coming in the first half. IUPUI also was the aggressive, getting to the line 21 times, but only hit 13. It was a cold night for the Jags from behind the arc, hitting only one of 12 threes, the lowest in any game of the year.

With the win, IUPUI won 13 conference games, the most in school history, and will play the winner of the No. 7 seed versus the No. 10 seed on Saturday at Noon in Detroit at Little Caesar's  Arena for the second round of the Horizon League Tournament.