INDIANAPOLIS – Junior Stephanie Lovingood tallied six points and seven rebounds for the Western Illinois women's basketball team, but it was not enough as the Westerwinds (9-15, 5-5 Mid-Con) fell to IUPUI 34-31 at the IUPUI Gymnasium.

The game was the lowest scoring game for Western and its opponent this season and was plagued with turnovers and tough shooting by both teams. Both teams combined for 47 turnovers and the Jaguars (10-13, 4-5 Mid-Con) had the best night shooting, with only 34.3 percent from the floor.

"We played great defense today," said head coach Leslie Crane. "We did exactly what we wanted to do on the defense end, but for some reason we did a very poor job on execution. We didn't look for shots and attack the bucket until it was too late in the shot clock."

The first half was a back-and-forth battle of the defense as both teams' went on 12-0 scoring runs and held each other scoreless for long draughts.

The Jaguars got on the board first, but when Western sank its first shot at 17:48, the team took over for the next four minutes. The Westerwinds would go up 12-2 before IUPUI would regain control and go on a 12-0 run over the next 14 minutes to take the lead.

Western was held scoreless from 14:50 until the one minute mark when junior Gina Hugelier sank two free throws for the Westerwinds to close the game within four, 18-14, at the half.

Both teams were plagued by turnovers and cold shooting. Western committed 11 turnovers and IUPUI turned over the ball 12 times. Shooting was also key as Western started out the half shooting 50 percent to the Jaguars 14.5 percent. However IUPUI recovered and ended the half shooting 31.6 percent to the Westerwinds 25 percent.

Western came out strong in the second half, going on a 5-0 run and holding IUPUI scoreless until 16:27. The Westerwinds then started to claw their way back into the game, going on an 8-1 run over a six-minute span to take the lead for the first time in the second half.

The game then got tighter as the team's battled back-and-forth for a one-point lead until one minute remaining when Jernisha Cann hit both ends of a one-and-one to extend the lead to three for IUPUI.

Western struggled with turnovers in the final minute and was unable to connect on a last-second three point shot by Hugelier.

Notes: All of Western's points in the first half came off turnovers by the Jaguars … Western hit only two shots from beyond the arc … Western was out-rebounded 36-23 on the night and is now 1-13 when out-rebounded this season … no player from either team recorded double-digit points … freshman Katy Clark had a strong performance for Western … Clark tallied six points and added an assist in the second half.

Quotes:
Western Illinois head coach Leslie Crane
"When you don't rebound the ball, you don't control the temp and we were out-rebounded tonight 36-23."

"Katy has done a nice job responding to feedback that we have given her after the Centenary game. She is looking to score now and being more aggressive. We will need more of that kind of production out of her in the future."

"The most disappointing thing is that we were not aggressive to the bucket. We have got to be able to do that against teams like this if we are going to win."