ORLANDO, Fla. (Nov. 26, 2017) – The Wyoming basketball team (4-2 overall) battled back from a double-digit deficit, but their comeback would fall short by six, 65-59, against the IUPUI Jaguars (4-1 overall) on Sunday morning.
 
"IUPUI brings tremendous pressure and we knew that. We just don't see it on a day to day basis," head coach Joe Legerski said. "I knew it was going to take us a while to settle in. Players sometimes don't always believe what you're talking about what you show them on film compared to the actual situation. We won the tip, go down get a three second call and it was awareness right off the bat. We got down 18 and what I talked about at the half was to make sure we battled back. We ended up going to the zone defense and knowing the shooters we had to take away."
 
Three Cowgirls finished the game in double-figures led by senior Natalie Baker. She recorded a season-high 15 points along with bringing down four rebounds. Sophomore Selale Kepenc recorded a career-high 13 points in 15 minutes off the bench, while sophomore Taylor Rusk finished with 11 points and tied her career-high with seven rebounds and five assists. Wyoming shot 21-of-46 (.457) from the field and 11-of-15 (.733) from the free throw line.   
 
"We did a good job rebounding and came out and played well offensively in the third and fourth quarters," Legerski added. "We got a big lift from our two sophomores. I thought Taylor (Rusk) played excellent today, played all 40 minutes. We asked her to do a great deal and with the pressure Clara (Tapia) also played 37 minutes. We had to keep them on the floor a long time. Selale (Kepenc) really stepped up, hit some big shots and played well defensively. There were a lot of positives to take from this game. We tied it up at 53 with five minutes to go and after that I thought we rushed a couple of shots. We did some good things throughout the game."          
 
The Jaguars were led by senior Danielle Lawrence who recorded a game-high 18 points off the bench. She was followed by sophomore Holly Hoopingarner with 16 points while redshirt junior Tamya Sims recorded 14 points. Freshman Morgan Allen brought down seven boards to go with her six points. IUPUI shot 21-of-53 (.396) from the field and 20-of-32 (.870) from the charity stripe. They also out rebounded the Cowgirls 32-27.
 
Baker hit a three out of the halftime break, which started a 10-4 run to cut the Jaguars lead to single-digits, 42-35. A basket by Hoppingarner ended a small scoring drought for IUPUI. The two teams combined for 18 points the remainder of the third quarter as the Cowgirls continued to trail by seven, 51-44. The Jaguars hit a bucket early to begin the fourth to go up nine, 53-44, but Wyoming responded with nine unanswered, capped off by a Kepenc three, to tie it up at 53 with 5:42 left on the clock. Unfortunately, the Cowgirls wouldn't have enough left in the tank. IUPUI outscored UW 12-6 down the stretch including six free throws as the Jaguars came away with the 65-59 win.
 
It was tough going for Wyoming to begin the game who committed four turnovers and two foul in its first four possessions. The Jaguars came out strong taking a 10-0 lead. A three-point play Rusk at the 3:35 mark got the Cowgirls in the scoring column. UW scored the next six of 11 points to close the gap to six, 15-9, but a 10-0 run by IUPUI extended it back to a double-digit lead 27-9 with 6:43 left in the second quarter. Baker hit shot that ended a six minute drought for Wyoming and started an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to ten, 27-17. The Jaguars pushed the lead back to 16, 36-20, by scoring nine of the next 12 points. A couple of late baskets by the Cowgirls made it 38-25 headed in to the break.
 
Three players finished with five points in the first two quarters, while Rusk and Baker had a team-high three rebounds. The Cowgirls shot 9-of-22 (.409) from the field and 3-of-10 (.300) from beyond the arc. Hoopingarner led the Jaguars with ten points while senior Jenna Gunn had four rebounds. IUPUI was 13-of-30 (.433) from the field while out rebounding Wyoming 19-11. 
 
Wyoming continues its road swing on Wednesday against the Montana State Bobcats. The game is set for 11 a.m. MT in Bozeman.