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INDIANAPOLIS – IUPUI used a big second half to punch its ticket to Detroit with a 60-44 win over Northern Kentucky on Tuesday (Mar. 5) in the quarterfinals of the 2019 Little Caesar's Horizon League Women's Basketball Tournament. The Jags will move on to face the No. 1 seed Wright State in the semifinals on Monday (Mar. 11) at 1 p.m.
"Really pleased to get to Detroit," said head coach
Austin Parkinson. "Hats off to Northern Kentucky, I thought [head coach] Camryn [Whitaker] did an unbelievable job all year long…We knew we had our hands full, came out and played really well, had a bit of a gap in the first half and let them back in but when push came to shove in the second half out defense took over in the second half.
IUPUI was led by senior
Sydney Hall who finished with a game-high 16 points on 7-for-9 shooting. Hall did most of her damage in the paint, getting to the rim for multiple layups as the Fishers, Ind., native drove rather than sit outside the three point line. It was the second-straight game that Hall has posted double-figures after only hitting that mark once in the previous five games.
"We were talking about how I just kind of attacked and was shooting the ball," said Hall. "I hit a couple of threes but it was weird to have more layups that threes, that's not my game. I was just doing everything I could to get us to Detroit."
Two other Jaguars finished in double-figures as
Tamya Sims and
Holly Hoopingarner each scored 10 points.
Katelyn O'Reilly poured in nine and Horizon League Player of the Year
Macee Williams scored eight.
The Jags led by just two points at the half and after Williams hit two free throws to start the third quarter, Northern Kentucky hit a three to pull within one. Hall quickly responded with two jumpers to put IUPUI back up by five but NKU continued to hang around making it a three point game halfway through the third.
Hall broke a two-minute scoring drought with a three that was quickly followed by a three from
Agatha Beier after Norse miss and IUPUI found its largest lead of the night at that point at nine.
Northern Kentucky tried to get back in to the game in the beginning of the fourth, cutting the Jaguar lead to six but Sims hit a jumper and picked up a steal that led to a three from Hoopingarner to put IUPUI up 11 and force a timeout. The Jags continued the run after the timeout with a jumper by O'Reilly and another three from Hoopingarner. After two free throws by Williams, IUPUI's lead had jumped to 52-34. From there, the lead never got back under ten as IUPUI cruised to its 20
th win of the season.
IUPUI dominated on the glass, outrebounding the Norse 41-25 with Sims pulling down a team-high nine boards. O'Reilly finished the game with eight rebounds and Williams added seven. The Jags turned 11 offensive rebounds in to 14 second-chance points and dominated inside with 34 points in the paint to just 22 for NKU.
The Jags got out to a hot start with O'Reilly scoring the first five points of the game and the Jags held the lead, pushing it to as high as seven in the first half. Northern Kentucky was not going to go away easy though as the Norse fought back and tied the game at 22 with 52 seconds left in the first half. O'Reilly gave the Jags the halftime edge hitting a jumper in the lane as the time expired.
QUICK NOTES
- IUPUI shot just 23.5 percent from the field in the first quarter and went 1-for-10 from behind the arc in the first half. In the second half, IUPUI shot 50 percent from deep and was 8-for-11 from the field in the final quarter as they put the game away.
- The Jags finished just 9-for-11 from the free throw line, the lowest number of makes in the last six games.
- Tamya Sims was a force on the defensive end for the Jags leading the team with both two blocks and two steals.
- This was the first win on IUPUI's home floor against a conference opponent that the Jags did not win by more than 20 points.
- IUPUI has now recorded a school-record fourth-straight season with 20 wins.
UP NEXT
The Jags will play No. 1 Wright State in the semifinals of Motor City Madness, reaching the final four for the second-straight year. Last season, IUPUI was bounced by Wright State in the semifinals. The game against the Raiders will start at 1 p.m. on Monday (Mar. 11)
