INDIANAPOLIS – IUPUI won its second-straight game of the season, cruising to an 82-53 win over Oakland on Sunday (Jan. 13). The Jags were led by Macee Williams who finished the game with 22 points.
 
Behind Williams, who went 7-for-10 from the floor, Katelyn O'Reilly finished with 13 points on 5-for-5 shooting, and Morgan Allen who had 10 points. Sydney Hall finished the game with nine points hitting two threes and Tamya Sims and Brittany Welch each added seven.
 
"Macee was really aggressive, not just in posting but on the offensive glass," said Parkinson. "Our team made more of a conscious effort to get her the ball and she is such a good passer that if you double team her she is going to kick it out and we have pretty good shooters."
 
For the game, the Jags shot 45 percent from the floor and did most of their damage at the free throw line. After posting season-bests in both makes and attempts against Detroit Mercy, IUPUI beat both of those numbers going 27-for-30 from the stripe. Both Williams and Allen finished the game a perfect 8-for-8 from the line. The 30 attempts were the most for the Jags since attempting 32 against the same Oakland Golden Grizzlies last February.
 
IUPUI has now scored 82 points in back-to-back games, the first time doing so since scoring 85 and 86 points on Nov. 13 and Nov. 17, 2017. IUPUI has now scored at least 70 points in five of its six Horizon League games and in all four wins.
 
"We have had scorers step up in a lot of different roles," said Parkinson. "We are trying to push it in transition and I just felt like Morgan Allen tonight was outstanding at getting position inside and making her free throws."
 
IUPUI also dominated Oakland on the glass, outrebounding the Golden Grizzlies 45 to 21. O'Reilly led the Jags with a career-best 11 rebounds and pulled down three of IUPUI's 18 offensive rebounds. Williams, who finished second on the team with eight boards pulled down a team-high four offensive rebounds and the Jags tallied 17 second chance points to just five for Oakland.
 
"We have really boxed out well on the defensive side all of conference play," said Parkinson. "On the offensive side, when we take better shots, and know the shot is going up we have a better chance of rebounding it."
 
The Jaguar defense shutdown Oakland's offense, holding the Golden Grizzlies to 53 points and 33 percent shooting. Oakland's Tayllor Jones, who was averaging over 15 points per game coming in to the contest, scored just 13 points on 6-for-12 shooting. IUPUI's defense was especially stingy in the second half holding Oakland to just 22 percent shooting (6-for-27).
 
IUPUI entered the second half leading by 10 but extended its lead to 62-38 after outscoring Oakland 19-5 in the third quarter. The five points allowed by the Jags was a season-low in a quarter. Williams began the quarter with two free-throws to hit the 20-point mark for the eighth time this year and that began a 9-0 run featuring a three by Hall, jumper by O'Reilly and two free throws from Holly Hoopingarner. 
 
Sims three with just under five minutes left on the clock put the Jags up by 19 and then Allen forced her way to the free throw line, earning and converting six-straight free throws to put IUPUI up 61-38.
 
IUPUI jumped out to an early lead scoring the first seven points of the game and forcing an early Oakland timeout after a layup by Williams. The Golden Grizzlies responded out of the break to cut the lead to one after a three by Jones and a Jones layup would give Oakland a 13-12 lead. 
 
The Jags jumped back in front after a layup by O'Reilly, who finished the quarter with seven points and IUPUI extended its lead with a layup by Beier and free throws from Allen. After two Oakland free throws, IUPUI ended the quarter with a 4-0 run capped by another Williams layup to lead 22-15 after the first ten minutes.
 
Williams took over in the second, scoring the Jags first 10 points and going on a personal 8-0 run that forced another Oakland timeout with IUPUI up 32-20. With Williams heading to the bench for a rest, O'Reilly took over the scoring, hitting a free throw and nailing a corner three to keep the Jags up 11. After four-straight from Oakland, Williams returned to the court and scored four-straight before Sydney Hall finished the quarter with a three-point play.
 
IUPUI will not have a game until Saturday (Jan. 19) when they will take on UIC at 2 p.m. The game will be IUPUI Women's Basketball's alumni game and all former IUPUI women's basketball players can receive two tickets to the game if they preregister for the alumni event.
 
"The bye week is great, the ladies need a rest to be able to settle in," said Parkinson. "Next Saturday is alumni day so we are looking forward to seeing some of our former players who paved the way for this generation, we are looking forward to having them back at IUPUI.