SPORTS: Women's Basketball Downs St. Francis (NY) In Home Opener

by Michael Hadley

Photo by Rachel Hale

An injury-riddled IUPUI women’s basketball (1-1) team was able to secure a 75-56 victory over St. Francis College (NY) (0-4) Saturday afternoon in The Jungle.

Both teams came out slow through the first three minutes, but IUPUI was able to take advantage of exceptionally poor shot selection by St. Francis, turning a 3-0 deficit into a 10-0 run. The Jaguar’s were clearly the smaller team, but their speed and agility kick started the offense

“The way we want to play is fast,” head coach Austin Parkinson said following the victory. “And I think we picked our opportunities well.”

Photo by Rachel Hale

The Terriers stayed in the game primarily due to their ability to shoot the three. Through the first 12 minutes of the game, SFC was 5-8 from deep, scoring 15 of their 22 points from long range. But once IUPUI began to clamp down

“We knew going in they were a good perimeter shooting team, “ Parkinson said of the Terrier offense, “especially (Sarah Bendetti). We just had to wake up, and after that we played much better defense.”

By halftime, IUPUI had built a 44-29 lead thanks to 16 points from forward Kerah Nelson and 15 from guard Katie Comello.

“We needed some big time individual performances because we are little bit down as far as numbers at the guard position with injuries, so for Katie to step up the way she did and then Kerah to play multiple positions and have the game she did was huge for us today,”

In the second half, both teams struggled to find nylon through the first four minutes but it was St. Francis who began chipping away at the Jaguar lead. The Terriers started the half on a 10-4 run, getting as close as 51-43 with 10:30 remaining before Parkinson’s ladies took off for good.

Though the second half wasn’t as spectacular as the first, IUPUI ended the game shooting 50.9 percent overall, 53.3 percent from three, and assisted 21 of 28 field goals. On the glass, the Jaguars rebounded a truly impressive 11 of 27 their missed shots.

Photo by Rachel Hale

Comello finished the night with a career high 25 points (9-14 field goals, 6-9 three point, 1-2 free throws) and five assists, making up for her 0-10 performance against Purdue last weekend.

“I’m extremely proud of our kids for their effort. Defensively we were able to hold them to 43 percent…we weren’t able to play a lot of bodies because we have a ton of injuries so for the kids to gut out this performance they way they did, we were very pleased.”

The win was IUPUI’s first at home in as many tries this season, and the first in Parkinson’s career as the official head coach of the Jaguars.

IUPUI plays again Tuesday at Indiana State, that game tipping off at 7:00 p.m. in Terre Haute.

INDIANAPOLIS

SFC 29-27--56

IUPUI 44-31--75