MACOMB, Ill. – Sadie Webb poured in 21 points and Brittany Demery fell just shy of a double-double as Western Illinois downed IUPUI, 48-43, at Western Hall on Saturday, Jan. 29.
The Fighting Leathernecks (7-13, 5-5) evened their Summit League record and swept the season series with the Jaguars (3-17, 1-9) for the second year in a row.
Both teams struggled offensively in the contest as neither shot better than 30 percent for the game and neither team led by more than nine points at any point during the game.
"The game was completely different than our previous game against Southern Utah because we struggled offensively," said head coach Leslie Crane. "But once we got ahead we made defensive stops when we needed to and that's what matters in the end."
The Leathernecks jumped out to an early 9-2 lead on a pair of Webb free throws at the 14:08 mark. IUPUI would respond with a 10-0 run over the next six minutes to take a 12-9 lead on a three-pointer by Shea Collins with 7:51 remaining.
Western would jump back on top (15-14) on Demery's three-point jumper with just over three minutes remaining, but the Jaguars would outscore the Leathernecks 6-3 in the closing minutes to take a 20-18 lead into halftime.
IUPUI would lead by as many as six points (24-18) in the opening minutes of the second half, but Western Illinois would storm back to jump out to a 39-30 lead with just under eight minutes to go.
Webb converted two free throws at the 13:58 mark to spur the Leathernecks on to a 15-4 run over the next six minutes for their bigest lead of the contest.
The Jaguars would close the gap to two points on three separate occasions in the final six minutes. Dawn Luster's three-pointer with 41 seconds left cut Western's lead to 44-42.
The Leathernecks would hit 4-of-6 free throws in the closing seconds to secure their second victory in a row and their fifth win in six home games this season.
Webb led all scorers with 21 points on 6-of-13 shooting. She also went 9-for-10 from the charity stripe to eclipse the 20-point mark for the third time in six games.
"Right now it's all a team thing," said Webb. "I'm getting some great open looks and my teammates are doing a great job of getting me the ball in spots where I can score."
Demery fell just shy of her first career double-double, pulling down a career-high 10 rebounds while scoring eight points. Jackie Barton also finished with eight points and three rebounds.
"Whether its a low-scoring game or a high-scoring game we just had to make sure we did our jobs both offensively and defensively," said Demery.
Valencia Kelly set a new career-high with five steals and Erica Lewis dished out a game-high three assists. The Leathernecks shot 25 percent (13-for-52) including 67.9 percent (19-for-28) from the line.
Janna Eichelberger led the Jaguars with 14 points and 12 rebounds while Collins scored nine. Western Illinois held IUPUI to just 27.1 percent (16-for-59) from the floor and held Jaguars leading-scorer Kerah Nelson to no points.
"I felt like Brittany and Sadie played very well defensively," said Crane. "They both did a great job of shutting down IUPUI's best player and really locked her down."
IUPUI won the battle on the boards by a 55-37 margin but committed 21 turnovers while the Leathernecks turned the ball over just 13 times. Western Illinois also had a season-high six blocks, led by Demery's two.
The Leathernecks will return to action next weekend when they play host to Summit League opponents IPFW (Feb. 5) and Oakland (Feb. 7) to close out a three-game home stand.
