IUPUI Women's Basketball Earns Big Road Win Over Ole Miss
OXFORD, Miss. (IUPUIJags.com) – With sophomore
Macee Williams leading the way, IUPUI went in to SEC country and beat Ole Miss 66-58 on Friday (Nov. 9). Williams posted her first double-double of the season with a game-high 23 points and 11 rebounds.
Sydney Hall was second on the squad with 17 points and
Holly Hoopingarner scored 14 as the top three scorers for IUPUI scored 54 of the team's 66 points. Hall led the Jags in the first half with 14 points through the first 20 minutes, while Williams and Hoopingarner took control for the offense late. Williams scored 15 and Hoopingarner scored 10 after the break. Hoopingarner also dished out seven assists to lead all players.
"I am really proud of our kids going on the road versus an SEC opponent," said head coach
Austin Parkinson. "Our two lead guards, Syd[ney Hall] and Holly [Hoopingarner] really stepped up with how they competed the entire game. Macee [Williams] was a force on the inside and on the glass."
The Jags dominated Ole Miss on the glass, outrebounding the Rebels 52-34. Behind Williams,
Allex Brown pulled down eight and
Sydney Roule grabbed six. The Jags finished with 23 offensive rebounds to just nine for Ole Miss, leading to 17 second chance points for IUPUI.
"I think we won the game on the glass by limiting them to one shot and giving ourselves extra possessions," said Parkinson.
IUPUI (2-0) took control of the game late in the third quarter and withstood a late run by Ole Miss to hang on for the second win in school history over an SEC team.
The Jags held a 30-27 lead at the half and the third quarter remained close with the Jags lead cut to two after free throws by the Rebels with 6:36 left in the quarter. Back-to-back jumpers from Hoopingarner were followed by a three-point play from Hall to finish off a 7-0 run and push the lead to nine.
With just over two minutes left in the quarter, a steal by Hoopingarner led to a wide open transition three from
Sydney Roule to give the Jags their largest lead of the night at 11.
Taking a nine-point lead in to the fourth quarter, IUPUI got the best the Rebels could give them with Ole Miss shutting down the Jags' offense and cutting the lead to 50-48 three minutes in to the quarter. At that point, Williams, Horizon League Preseason Player of the Year, took control getting an offensive rebound and a three-point play to stop the run and put the Jags up five. Another jumper by Williams put IUPUI back up seven.
Ole Miss was not going to go away without a fight, cutting the lead to three on a jumper from Shannon Dozier. Needing a basket, IUPUI got what Parkinson called "maybe the most important basket of the game" from senior
Allex Brown. Brown's only basket came on a beautiful up-and-under move to push the lead to 57-52 and
Katelyn O'Reillymade a layup, putting IUPUI back up seven.
Following a basket by Ole Miss, Hoopinganer and Williams iced the game from the free throw line to preserve the Jaguar win a place where IUPUI did most of their damage for the night.
After hitting 15 threes in their first game of the season, IUPUI hit only three against Ole Miss but managed to get to the free throw line 22 times, hitting 17, while the Rebels made just eight trips to the charity stripe.
The Jags battled back after Ole Miss held the lead for the most part of the first half. After the Rebels took a five point lead halfway through the second, IUPUI scored 10-straight all coming from Williams, Hoopingarner and Hall, to flip the momentum and give the Jags the halftime lead.
IUPUI returns home to the Jungle on Tuesday (Nov. 13) to face off against the UT-Martin Skyhawks. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and begins at 7 p.m.