INDIANAPOLIS – IUPUI women's basketball returns for its final non-conference home game of the season as the Jags host Eastern Kentucky at 2 p.m. on Friday (Dec. 20). The game against the Colonels will be streamed on ESPN+ with Scott Agness on the play-by-play call.

IUPUI (5-5) ends non-conference play looking to bounce back from a loss to Northern Iowa on Sunday (Dec. 15). The Jags had the score tied before Northern Iowa hit a free throw with 0.6 seconds left and IUPUI's inbound pass was stolen to end the game.

Junior Macee Williams led the Jags with 11 points and pulled down a season-high 15 rebounds to post her fifth double-double of the season. Williams scored all 11 points in the first half before going 0-for-4 after halftime. Rachel McLimore was the other Jaguar to score in double-figures with 10 points. It was the first game since the second game of the season that McLimore had scored in double-figures.

The Jags play just their second home game since Nov. 12 when they host Eastern Kentucky. IUPUI will be looking to move to 4-0 on the season at home, compared to a 0-5 record on the road. If the Jags move to 4-0 at the Jungle, IUPUI will have won four-straight games at home to start the season since 2015-16 when IUPUI won its first six home games.

Getting a balanced offense going will be important for IUPUI as the Jaguars are 3-0 when they have at least four players score in double-figures and are just 2-5 if they have three or fewer players hitting ten points. The Jags currently have two players scoring in double figures for the season with Williams leading the way at 13.9 points per game and Holly Hoopingarner at 10.5 ppg. Freshman Natalie Andersen is scoring 9.3 ppg and McLimore upped her average to 9.0.

The balanced offense has come from good ball movement as IUPUI is averaging 14.7 assists per game. Hoopingarner leads the team with 29 assists this season and Destiny Perkins is second on the team at 24. Six other Jaguars have at least 10 assists this year.

Another key for the Jags will be to get off to a strong start. IUPUI is 5-0 this season when they go in to the half with the lead and have yet to win a game this season when trailing at the break.

IUPUI welcomes an Eastern Kentucky team that comes in to the game at 6-4 on the season with identical 3-2 records both at home and on the road. The Colonels lost their last road game at Vanderbilt by a score of 75-69. EKU and IUPUI have a common opponent this season with the Colonels losing 73-41 to Butler earlier this year. IUPUI lost to the Bulldogs by three, three days after EKU played at Butler.

Eastern Kentucky is also 1-1 against fellow Horizon League teams this year with a win over Northern Kentucky to open the season and falling to Youngstown State on Dec. 3.

EKU has undergone an impressive turnaround under first-year head coach Samantha Williams. The Colonels six wins has already tripled the two wins that EKU earned a season ago. Transfers have helped Williams see early success with two of the top three scorers for the Colonels transferring in to the program. Leading scorer Bria Bass has 11.3 ppg while Samari Mowbray, a transfer from Northern Kentucky, is second on the team (8.9). De'ayra Davis is third on the team at 8.4 ppg and transferred from Iowa Western Community College.