INDIANAPOLIS – IUPUI women's basketball will play in its first Horizon League Championship game after beating Cleveland State 71-54 in the semifinals of the Horizon League Women's Basketball Tournament on Monday (March 9). The Jags were led by Destiny Perkins who finished with 15 points.
Behind Perkins, Macee Williams was second on the team with 14 points and led the Jags with 11 rebounds and five assists. Two other Jaguars also finished in double-figures with Holly Hoopingarner scoring 13 and Rachel McLimore pouring in 10.
IUPUI used a big second quarter to take control of the game over the Vikings. Down 16-15 after the first ten minutes, IUPUI outscored Cleveland State 16-4 in the second. The Jags had not trailed after the first quarter in a game since being down 23-19 at Wright State on Feb. 13. IUPUI came back to win the game thanks in part by outscoring the Raiders 17-8 in the second stanza.
The Jags scored the first six points of the quarter as Williams hit a layup, Hoopingarner hit a three and McLimore made 1-of-2 free throws after getting fouled. The Vikings stopped the run with a basket but Destiny Perkins followed it up with a three and Morgan Allen added a layup, putting IUPUI up eight. The Jags closed the quarter on a 5-0 run, taking an 11-point lead in to the half. The Jags only managed to shoot 33 percent from the floor in the second but held Cleveland State to just 2-of-15 shooting (13.3%) in the quarter.
Both Williams and Hoopingarner struggled in the first half with Williams scoring just two points and Hoopingarner adding three but both came alive offensively in the second half. The Jags first nine points of the third quarter were scored by either Williams or Hoopingarner as IUPUI built its lead to 15 with 7:11 left in the quarter.
Cleveland State was not ready to go away though, cutting the lead back to nine before McLimore hit two free throws to get it back to a double-digit lead. As Cleveland State kept fighting, IUPUI kept going back to their biggest playmakers as Williams scored five of IUPUI's next six points and Hoopingarner finished the quarter with two free throws.
In the quarter, Williams finished with nine points and Hoopingarner added seven. Williams went 4-for-5 from the feel after going 1-for-6 in the first half and Hoopingarner was a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line.
After four-straight points by Williams put IUPUI up 14 with just over six minutes to play, two quick threes by the Vikings cut the lead to 59-51. For the rest of the game, IUPUI got two big steals from Destiny Perkins on route to a 12-3 run to close out the win. During the run Perkins went 3-for-4 from the free throw line and hit a fading three off the glass as the shot clock was expiring.
The Jags closed out the game from the free throw line going 7-for-10 from the stripe in the last ten minutes of the game. IUPUI struggled in the first 30 minutes from the stripe going 12-for-20 before the fourth.
IUPUI had a big advantage on the glass, outrebounding the Vikings 40-22. The Jags finished with 11 offensive rebounds, led by four from McLimore and IUPUI had a 12-0 advantage in second chance points.
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IUPUI will play the winner of Northern Kentucky and Green Bay for the Horizon League Title at Noon ET at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum on Tuesday (March 10).
For students wanting to come to the game, there will be two student shuttles departing from the Campus Center at approximately 11:05 and 11:40 a.m.
