Women's Basketball Travels to South Dakota State

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FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- The IPFW women's basketball team will get another shot at the top team in the Summit League standings as the Mastodons travel to Brookings, S.D. to face the South Dakota State Jackrabbits on Thursday, Feb. 7. Tip-off from Frost Arena is scheduled for 8 p.m. EST.

ABOUT IPFW
The Mastodons enter the weekend with an overall record of 8-13 after winning two straight games over league opponents. IPFW defeated Oakland 57-55 on Jan. 26 and then ended the month of January with a 51-46 victory over Omaha.

The league standings have SDSU (9-1) on top followed by IUPUI (6-3). South Dakota (6-4) and Omaha (5-5) follow in that order, but Omaha is inelibiglbe for the 2012-13 League Tournament. IPFW is in the middle of the pack with a league mark of 4-5. North Dakota State and Kansas City are close behind at 4-6. The last two spots belong to Western Illinois (3-6) and Oakland (2-7).

Road wins have been hard to come by for IPFW as the team is just 1-7 on the road this season. In order for the 'Dons to be successful this weekend the team will have to get out to a fast start and play tough defense. The Mastodons are 8-3 on the year when they are up at halftime, and are 7-1 when holding their opponents to 59 points or less.

SCOUTING THE JACKRABBITS

South Dakota State is the top team in the Summit League standings heading into the weekend with a league record of 9-1. IUPUI is the only team to defeat the Jackrabbits as they knocked off SDSU in Brookings, 57-56 on Jan. 19. The Mastodons also gave SDSU a scare as IPFW took a tough 66-64 loss at the Gates Sports Center on a buzzer beater shot from Megan Waytashek.

Waytashek leads the team in scoring with a points per game average of 14.7. The 17-6 Jackrabbits are currently on a three-game winning streak as they return home after three straight wins on the road. SDSU had another close battle at Kansas City as the Jackrabbits held off the Kangaroos 62-61 at the Swinney Recreation Center.

Waytashek, Ashley Eide, and Leah Dietel have started in all 23 games for the Jackrabbits. Eide is second on the team with a scoring average of 13.8 and Dietel hits the glass to pull down 5.4 boards per contest. Katie Lingle and Gabrielle Boever also contribute to the team as Lingle plays the role of the sixth man averaging just under 19 minutes per game and Boever is the team leader in assists at 3.0 per game.

ALL-TIME SERIES
South Dakota State leads the all-time series over IPFW 18-1. The first meeting between the two programs was during the 2004-05 season as the Jackrabbits recorded a 90-73 victory over the Mastodons in Fort Wayne. IPFW started to play SDSU two times a year the next season. Their lone win over the Jackrabbits came in overtime during the 2010-11 season. The 'Dons won 70-67 in Brookings to stop the Jackrabbit streak.

LAST TIME OUT

IPFW never trailed on Thursday night as they recorded their eighth win of the season by defeating Omaha 51-46. The Mastodons are now 4-5 in Summit League play with seven games remaining on the schedule.

Erin Murphy iced the game with a jumper from 15 feet out with 11 seconds remaining to give IPFW a five point edge. Omaha hustled the ball down the court, but it was too late as the 'Dons held on for the victory. Murphy scored 16 points for IPFW as she shot 5-for-13 from the field. The junior led the team from the charity stripe going 6-for-9.

Amanda Hyde scored a team-high 18 points on 7-of-15 shooting while adding seven rebounds and three assists. Three of Hyde's seven rebounds were offensive and she also dialed in from distance with three 3-point field goals in 40 minutes of action.

The Mastodons picked up their defensive intensity on Thursday as they held Omaha to just 46 points on 39 percent shooting. Haley Seibert made life very difficult for Jamie Nash as Seibert forced Nash into making eight turnovers. Seibert came up with a career-high five steals, four assists, six points and a career-high seven rebounds.

IPFW jumped out to an 18-4 lead just seven minutes into the game. They held a double digit lead for a majority of the half, yet Omaha kept within striking distance as they trailed 31-22 at the break.

The second half started to heat up with just over three minutes to play as the Mavericks cut the lead to five after a 3-point field goal from Blair-Mobley. The 'Dons made a pair of free throws to get the lead back to seven, but Blair-Mobley struck again from 3-point range making the score 48-44.

Erin Murphy got to the line on the following possession and split a pair of free throws. Omaha kept things interesting as Kelly scored in the paint to get within three points with two minutes to play, but Murphy would once again come up clutch down the stretch as her jumper iced the game 51-46.

THREE-POINT STREAK
The IPFW Mastodons have made a 3-point field goal in 426 straight contests, a stretch that ranks as the fourth longest active streak in NCAA Division I. Iowa State's streak is at the top of the list by making a 3-point field goal in 568 consecutive games. Sam Houston State and Connecticut rank ahead of IPFW with 520 and 494 respectively.

IPFW VS SDSU GAME RECAP - JAN. 12

Stefanie Mauk and Erin Murphy each scored 20 points for IPFW vs. SDSU. Mauk shot 8-for-13 from the field and 4-for-8 from three point land while Murphy shot 5-for-9 from the floor and 9-for-12 from the charity stripe. Mauk added two rebounds, an assist, a steal, and one block in 37 minutes of action. 20 points ties her career-high. Murphy was also a key contributor for IPFW as she recorded a season-high four assists, three rebounds, and three steals in 36 minutes of play.

Rachel Mauk scored 11 points and grabbed six defensive rebounds for the Mastodons. Haley Seibert and Amanda Hyde rounded out the scoring with eight and five points respectively. Hyde was just 1-of-6 from the floor, but she found ways to impact the game by grabbing a team-high eight rebounds.

Megan Waytashek was hands down the player of the game for the Jackrabbits as she scored a game-high 30 points to go along with 11 rebounds. Waytashek's last shot had the biggest impact as her offensive rebound in the last few seconds of the game led to the game-winning bucket.

Ashley Eide and Katie Lingle also played well for SDSU. Eide scored 11 points and grabbed four rebounds while Lingle ended the day with eight points and eight boards.

HEAD COACH CHRIS PAUL
Chris Paul became the all-time program wins leader at IPFW on January 22, 2011. Paul has 89 wins as the head coach for the Mastodons, 50 of which have come against Summit League opponents. Paul now ranks eighth for overall victories by a Summit League head coach and is tied for eighth all-time for most Summit League victories by a head coach.

SUMMIT LEAGUE LEADER
Junior Amanda Hyde leads the Summit League with a scoring average of 18.7 points per game. She most recently scored 18 points vs. Omaha.

THREE-POINT SHOOTING
The Mastodons average seven 3-point field goals per game. That average is the second-best in the Summit League, and the 34th best in the NCAA. Western Illinois leads the Summit League with 7.8 made 3-point field goals per game, and Creighton is the top team in the country at 9.6.

FREEBIES

Amanda Hyde is shooting 86.1 percent from the free throw line this season making her the best free throw shooter in the Summit League. The junior has made 99 of her 115 attempts on the season. She currently holds the 25th best percentage in the NCAA.

IPFW is currently ranked seventh in the nation with a team free throw percentage of 78.2. Notre Dame leads the NCAA by knocking down 80.7 percent of their free throw attempts.

HYDE NAMED TO ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT TEAM
The 2012-13 Capital One Academic All-District Women's Basketball Teams, selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), were recently released and IPFW junior Amanda Hyde was recognized for outstanding performances both on and off the court.

The Academic All-District award recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combine performances athletically and in the classroom. Teams are divided into eight geographic districts across the United State and Canada.

First-team Academic All-District honorees advance to the Capital One Academic All-America Team ballot where first, second, and third team All-America honorees will be selected later this month.

Hyde was a first team selection as she holds a 4.0 grade point average in mathematics teaching. She was joined on the team alongside Brandi Brown of Youngstown State, Kendall Hackney of Northwestern, Jenny Ryan of Michigan and Rachel Tecca of Akron. Hyde and Tecca are the only junior selections as the other three student-athletes are in their senior season.

UP NEXT
IPFW will end the weekend with a game against North Dakota State on Saturday, Feb. 9. The Mastodons defeated the Bison 65-58 at the Gates Sports Center on Jan. 10.

~ Feel the Rumble ~

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Women's Basketball Travels to South Dakota State

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