Box Score

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The North Dakota State Bison (6-24) mounted a ferocious second half rally but came up short, falling to the IUPUI Jaguars (22-8), 72-64, Saturday, March 8 inside Sioux Falls Arena in The Summit League Basketball Championship Quarterfinals. The loss ends NDSU's season.

The Bison were led by four players in double figures. Brooke LeMar and Kahla Becken scored 16 points apiece to lead the team while Marena Whittle had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Holly Johnson rounded out the Bison in double figures, netting 13 points, respectively. 

DeAirra Goss paced IUPUI and all-scorers with a game-high 25 points while Nevena Markovic finished with 11 points and 10 boards for the double-double.

The Bison trailed, 46-26, with 19:04 to go in the second half before Johnson drilled a jumper to make it 46-28. Johnson's jump shot ignited a 12-0 NDSU run over the next 3:22 to cut the Jaguar advantage to 46-38 after Whittle converted a three with 13:39 remaining. NDSU continued to chip away at the Jaguar advantage, trimming it to five, 56-51, after Becken hit a jumper at the 9:03 mark.

The Jaguars answered and extended their lead back to 10, 61-51, with 4:56 remaining in the second stanza but, once again, the Bison answered, using an 8-3 spurt capped off by a Johnson trey with 2:27 to go to cut the deficit back to five, 64-59.

That would be as close as the Bison could get though, as IUPUI was able to hit key free throws in the final minutes of the game to seal the win.

The Bison shot 42 percent from the field for the game, going 25-for-59, and were 8-for-15 from three for 53 percent. IUPUI went 27-for-60 from the field for 45 percent and was just 1-for-12 from three for eight percent.

NDSU ends the season with an overall record of 6-24, while IUPUI advances to The Summit League tournament semifinals and moves to 22-8 overall.