Purdue Fort Wayne
Southern Utah
Balanced Scoring Helps IPFW to 11-Point Win
2/13/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 13, 2010
Cedar City, UT – For the third straight game, the IPFW Mastodons led wire-to-wire, never giving up their lead as five players reached double figure scoring in a 76-65 victory over Southern Utah University on Saturday evening. With the win, IPFW won their 13th game of the season, a record in Division I play for the Mastodons, while improving to 10-4 in league play, also a Division I season win record.
“What our thirteen wins means is that our program is moving in the right direction,” said IPFW head coach Chris Paul. “We’re not completely satisfied with 13 wins and 10 in league play, however being able to do it is significant. I’m proud to be here with four regular season games, plus the conference tournament, still ahead.”
Jordan Zuppe scored a game-high 16 points, as Stephanie Rosado scored 15. Chelsey Jackson added 13 points off of the bench, as Sydney Weinert scored 11 points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. Eva Ivanova was the final Mastodon to reach double figure scoring with 10. Zuppe dished out six assists, as six different players had a blocked shot. For the second straight game, and the third time this season, five IPFW players reached double figure scoring in the game.
“There are a lot of reasons why we have won ten conference games,” commented the head coach. “I believe the main reason is because we have a lot of people who can score. We put five players in double figures, and the individual who was leading us in scoring during conference play had five. That shows that we have a lot of players that can step up and get it done. The team concept that we have been trying to preach since day one has really started to come through.”
With the win, IPFW remained within a game of first place in the Summit League, as each of the top four teams: Oral Roberts, South Dakota State, IPFW, and Oakland, all picked up victories on Saturday. Oral Roberts and South Dakota State each improved to 11-3 while IPFW and Oakland moved to 10-4.
“Tonight was the second straight game that we shot the basketball pretty well,” said Paul. “We continue to hold teams pretty solidly into the mid-30’s in percentage, but when you give up 15 offensive rebounds, then we struggle a little bit. I am really proud of the kids because we had a long day of travel yesterday, and the fatigue set in. We have a couple of them that are not 100 percent, and I am proud of how they gutted it out tonight.”
IPFW jumped out quickly, scoring the game's first seven points on lay-ins from Weinert and Rosado, before Courtney Reed gave IPFW it's seven point total with a three-point basket. The lead grew to as many as eight, at 16:16 after an Anne Boese three-point basket, before Southern Utah ran off a 9-2 run to cut the deficit to one at 12-11 five minutes later.
The lead remained at one after a Kaila Goff basket with just over ten minutes remaining in the period, until IPFW scored seven straight points on baskets by Ivanova and Zuppe, and a three-pointer by Rosado, pushing IPFW ahead 23-15.
Leading by just five with 4:04 left in the half, IPFW ended the frame on a 13-3 run to take a 15-point, 44-29 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The Mastodons got a quick basket from Weinert out of the gate in the second half to increase their lead to 17, the highest margin in the game, before Southern Utah mounted a comeback to cut to within seven halfway through the final period.
The IPFW advantage was cut to as few as six with 1:41 to play in the game, however, the Mastodons iced the game by making eight of ten free throws down the stretch to secure the 11-point victory.
For the 13th time this season, IPFW out-rebounded its opponent, this time by a 36-to-35 margin, while losing the turnover battle 17-to-15. The ‘Dons shot 49.1 percent (26-of-53) from the field, and 40 percent (8-of-20) from long range. Southern Utah made 36.9 percent of their shots (24-of-65), and 5-of-13 from three-point range (38.5 percent).
“Our-rebounding Southern Utah is a step in the right direction, but we still have a long way to go,” noted Paul. “Our earlier struggles on the boards weren’t about effort. We keep holding teams to the mid and upper 30’s field goal percentage, but they keep getting second and third chances. It was definitely a step in the right direction, but we definitely have a lot of work to do.”
Caitlyn Sears scored a team-high 14 points for the Thunderbirds, with Challis Pascucci chipping in 13 and a game-high eight rebounds.
The Mastodons continue on their road swing as they travel to Kansas City, Missouri, to take on the Kangaroos of UMKC on Monday, February 15, with tip-off slated for 8:00 PM EST, 7:00 PM local time.
~Dons~
