DETROIT, Mich. – IUPUI women's basketball won its fourth game in a row, overcoming a slow start on route to a 58-41 win over Detroit Mercy on Saturday (Feb. 16). The Jaguars used a strong second half to pull away in the game, outscoring the Titans 35-23 in the final 20 minutes.

"We did what we needed to do this weekend going 2-0," said head coach Austin Parkinson. "Our defense was tremendous and it was great to see us slide over and take several charges.

Sophomore Macee Williams owned the paint, scoring a game-high 15 points and pulling down a career-high 18 rebounds, including 13 on the offensive end. It was the most rebounds by a Jaguar since Mikale Rogers also pulled down 18 against South Dakota State on March 6, 2017. Williams now has nine double-doubles on the season after finished with seven last year.

"We had a lot of ladies sick this week who battled both games," said Parkinson. "Macee was a beast on the glass today, especially the offensive end."

Sydney Roule finished with 14 points and Holly Hoopingarner added 13. All of Roule's points came in the second half, including an 11-point third quarter as the Jaguars started to separate themselves from Detroit Mercy.

After the Titans had cut the lead to five, Roule hit back-to-back threes to push the lead to 11. Three minutes later, another three by the sophomore made the score 40-25 and Roule followed that up with another layup to push the lead to 17.

It was not just Williams doing work on the glass for IUPUI has the Jaguars held a 51-28 rebound advantage with 27 offensive boards. Those rebounds turned in to a 22-6 second-chance point advantage. The 51 rebounds and 27 offensive rebounds are the most for the Jags since the last time they played Detroit Mercy and pulled down 54 boards, 30 on the offensive end.

Both teams struggled to get going early as IUPUI held a 13-10 lead after the first quarter. The Jags and Titans shot an equal 20 percent from the field in the first ten minutes. Things were not much better in the second as IUPUI outscored the Titans 10-8. For the first 20 minutes both teams combined for 13 made field goals and 28 turnovers.

IUPUI's offense ticked up a notch in the second half, shooting 36.4 percent from the field and the Jags took care of the ball, committing just four turnovers over the last 20 minutes while putting the game out of reach.

With the win, IUPUI improves to 11-4 in conference play and sits in fourth place in the standings. The Jags are three games ahead of Milwaukee for the important fourth spot that will host a quarterfinal game in the 2019 Little Caesars Horizon League Basketball Championship.

Up next, IUPUI will play its final road game of the season when the Jags travel to UIC on Saturday (Feb. 23). Tip time against the Flames is scheduled for 1 p.m.

QUICK NOTES

• Sydney Hall and Allex Brown became the all-time winningest class in IUPUI history as the 2015-19 class won its 84th game.
• The Jaguars have pulled down 50-plus rebounds and in three games and 20 or more offensive rebounds in five games this season, the most since doing the same in the 2015-16 campaign.
• Macee Williams has scored in double-figures in 24 of the 26 games for IUPUI this season.
• Katelyn O'Reilly only scored four points but pulled down 10 rebounds and tied Sydney Hall for the team lead with five assists as IUPUI assisted on 14 of its 18 field goals.
• IUPUI matched its season low for points in a win. The Jags also scored 58 points in a victory over UT San Antonio over Thanksgiving this year.
• The Jags tied a season-high with five blocks against the Titans. Williams and Tamya Sims each had two blocks and O'Reilly added another.