Sharp-Shooting 'Dons Topple Oakland 70-55

Saturday, February 12

Rochester, Mich.

3:00 PM

Purdue Fort Wayne

17-6,11-3Summit

Oakland

16-9,10-4Summit

IPFW

Oakland

Jordan Zuppe made 6-of-8 three-pointers en route to a game-high 23 points against Oakland

2/12/2011 5:46:25 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

BOX SCORE | POSTGAME NOTES (.pdf)

Rochester, MI - The IPFW Mastodons grabbed sole possession of second place in the Summit League standings with a 70-55 victory over the Grizzlies of Oakland on Saturday afternoon.

The win improves IPFW's record to 17-6 on the season, and 11-3 in Summit League play. The 17 wins are the most in a season since the 2000-01 season won 19 games, while the 11 league wins are the most since IPFW joined the Summit League in 2007-08.

Jordan Zuppe scored a game-high 23 points, making 7-of-9 shots from the field and 6-of-8 from long range, while Stephanie Rosado added 19 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Chelsey Jackson scored a dozen, while Erin Murphy chipped in 10 off of the bench.

Zuppe dished out a game-high seven assists, while Rosado and Jackson each gave out three helpers, Rosado's total tying a career-high.

IPFW out-rebounded Oakland 34-30, and had a 17-to-16 assist-to-turnover ratio, the 11th time this season for the former, and the tenth time this season for the latter. IPFW also shot over .500 for the fourth consecutive game, and the eighth time this season.

The win was also the first for the Mastodons in the O'rena, as IPFW was 0-9 all-time prior to today against Oakland on the road.

The Mastodons trailed for less than a minute of the entire game, jumping out to a 7-2 lead through the first three minutes of the contest. Oakland's largest lead came at 10-7 with 13:35 to play, before Zuppe knotted the game up at three with her second trifecta of the contest.

Oakland (16-9, 10-4 Summit) re-took the lead after a Zakya Minifee jumper, before Rosado answered 15 seconds later with a jumper of her own, which was followed by a Jackson lay-up to put IPFW ahead.

The Grizzlies cut the deficit to three with 4:43 left in the half at 23-20, before the Mastodons ended the half on a 9-2 run, taking a 10-point 32-22 lead into the locker room at halftime

In the second half the IPFW advantage never dipped into single digits, and reached as high as 20 with 8:36 to play in the game, when the 'Dons led 58-38, before the Grizzlies clawed their way back, closing to within as few as 13, as the final margin closed at 15 at 70-55.

Bethany Watterworth scored a team-high 17 points, with Sharise Calhoun adding a dozen in the losing effort, while Minifee scored eight and had eight rebounds, and a team-high-tying three assists.

The Mastodons return to action on Wednesday, February 16, when the team jumps out of league play with a non-conference battle with the SIU Edwardsville Cougars, in Edwardsville, Illinois.

~Dons~