YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – IUPUI women's basketball dropped its Horizon League opener 75-73 at Youngstown State on Saturday (Dec. 28). Macee Williams finished with her third-straight double-double and Sydney Roule scored a career-high in the loss.

Williams led the Jags (6-6, 0-1 Horizon) with 20 points and 10 rebounds, going 7-for-10 from the field and 6-for-10 from the line but the reigning Horizon League Player of the Year fouled out with 1:45 left in the game. Roule had her best game of the season, scoring a career-high 16 points, going 4-for-7 from the three-point line. Both Holly Hoopingarner and Katelyn O'Reilly also scored in double figures for the Jags with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

IUPUI held a one-point lead with just over two minutes left in the game after a layup by Hoopingarner but on the next possession for Youngstown State (8-4, 1-0 Horizon), Williams was called for her fifth personal foul on a loose ball. In the fourth quarter, Williams had taken control of the game for the Jags, scoring 10 points on 4-for-4 shooting.

After the foul on Williams, Youngstown State took a one-point lead on a basket by Chelsea Olson but Destiny Perkins tied the game hitting one-of-two free throws. Another basket by the Penguins put them up two and the Jags cut the lead in half, again only hitting one-of-two free throws.  After the Penguins split a pair of free throws with four seconds left, IUPUI had a look to win it on a three by Rachel McLimore but the shot missed the mark.

IUPUI struggled at the free throw line, going 15-for-24 from the stripe, including 8-for-14 in the final period.

The Jaguars held an early 9-0 lead and were up 13-6 after the first quarter but the Penguins battled back behind the three point line. In the first ten minutes, Youngstown was 0-for-5 from deep but in the final three quarters, the Penguins went 11-for-15 from long range. McKenah Peters led the way for Youngstown, going 6-for-11 from downtown, on route to 22 points. On the other hand, IUPUI went 8-for-28 from three, struggling after halftime, going 2-for-13 in the final two quarters.

"Youngstown was the tougher and mentally tougher team today," said head coach Austin Parkinson. "We haven't won a road game this year and more often than not it comes down to the little things. We said coming in we had to guard the three point line and obviously we didn't do that at all."

One area the Jags did dominate the Penguins was on the glass. IUPUI held a 41-26 rebounding advantage and a 22-1 advantage on the offensive glass. That advantage translated in to a 19-0 advantage in second-chance points.

After two Williams free throws early in the second quarter, IUPUI held its largest advantage of the game at 13. A run by the Penguins cut the lead to seven but Ali Berg hit a three to push it back to 10. The Penguins whittled away IUPUI's lead until tying the game at 33 under a minute until halftime. Roule hit a three to give IUPUI a three-point lead in to the half.

IUPUI held the lead until Peters hit a three, three minutes in to the second half. The rest of the game featured seven tied and eight lead changes but the Jags were not able to get one final lead change, dropping the first game of the season they had led at halftime.

UP NEXT
IUPUI will look to earn its first road win of the season, taking on Cleveland State on Monday (Dec. 30) at 7 p.m. in Cleveland.