Purdue Fort Wayne
Southern Utah
Late Run Sends `Dons to Sioux Falls
2/28/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 28, 2009
Fort Wayne, IN – A late 8-0 run on a Jordan Zuppe three-pointer, a Chelsey Jackson three-point-play, and a bucket by Tina Moen turned a two-point IPFW lead into a 10-point advantage, as the IPFW Mastodons cruised over the final two minutes, running away with a 64-56 Summit League victory.
With ten games to play in the regular season, things looked bleak for the IPFW Mastodon women’s basketball team. A 2-17 record, including sitting in last place with a 1-8 league record, had very few outside of the team’s locker room believing that the team’s season would advance to the Summit League Tournament in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Six wins in their last nine games, however, changed the tune of the season, as the Mastodons have clinched one of eight bids to the Summit League post-season tournament. The Mastodons have won four straight at home, tying for the longest home win streak in the program’s Division I era, while winning three straight overall has given them their longest win streak of the season.
Zuppe led the team with 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field and 3-of-5 from long range. Tina Moen and Chelsey Jackson each scored 13 points, both in action off of the bench. Two players, Moore and Eva Ivanova each added eight, as all eight players that saw action in the game reached the scoring column. Nan Moore’s career-high 11 rebounds topped her best by two, as the Mastodons out-rebounded Southern Utah 37-30 in the win. Courtney Reed dished out a game-high four assists, while Ivanova blocked three shots in the win.
The Mastodons opened the game on a 4-0 run, and following a three-point basket by the Thunderbird’s Kayla Goff, ran off another 4-0 run to streak ahead 8-3. Anne Westwood-Higbee stopped the initial bleeding with a three-point play, before the ‘Dons used baskets by Ivanova and Zuppe, the latters’ a three-point make, to take off to a 13-6 lead five minutes into the contest.
The seven-point lead would be the largest by either teams in the game until the latter portions of the contest, as Southern Utah put together their own set of runs, as 4-0 and 6-0 swing gave the Thunderbirds a 24-23 lead with 4:26 to play in the opening half. IPFW answered by running off four straight points, on baskets by Jackson and Moen, to push IPFW ahead by three at 27-24, as the team would not trail again in the contest. The teams each scored three more points the rest of the way, to send IPFW into the locker room with a 30-27 lead.
IPFW opened the second half on a 5-2 run to lead 35-29; however, the feisty Thunderbird squad kept the game in range, and cut the deficit to two at 56-54 with 6:54 to go in the game, before the Mastodon defense buckled down, allowing just two points on a field goal with 11 seconds remaining in the game, while running off eight points of their own, securing the league-tournament berth.
The Mastodons made 25-of-59 shots (42.4 percent) in the game, and 5-of-11 (45.5 percent) from long range, while Southern Utah converted on 22 of their 51 attempts (43.1 percent) from the field and 57.1 percent (4-of-7) on long-range shots.
Southern Utah was led by Westwood-Higbee, who had 15 points and 11 rebounds, with Caitlyn Sears adding 13. Dani Hosking and Challis Pascucci each missed double figures by a single tally with nine. Kaila Goff dished out three assists, while adding a pair of steals.
The Mastodon’s final seeding into the tournament will be finalized after the team’s final regular season game, on Monday night against UMKC at the Hilliard Gates Sports Center. The game will also be the final home game in the career of four IPFW seniors: Moore, Moen, Sam Edwards, and Maggie O’Connell.
~Dons~
