INDIANAPOLIS — Led by a senior on a mission, the IUPUI women’s basketball team made history on Tuesday.
The Jaguars did it by earning their first NCAA tournament berth with a 51-37 win over Green Bay in the Horizon League Women’s Basketball Championship final at Indiana Farmers Coliseum.
Jumping for joy in their hometown, realizing the history they made. Churning out a defensive performance for the ages with a championship at stake. Halting all the momentum built by the 16-time champion Phoenix by holding Green Bay without a point in the fourth quarter.
Since women’s basketball changed from halves to quarters in 2015-16, the fourth quarter on Tuesday was the first time IUPUI held an opponent scoreless for a period.
Senior guard Holly Hoopingarner’s game-high 16 points followed a 13-point effort in the semifinal win over Cleveland State.
“I’m really proud of Holly,” said IUPUI coach Austin Parkinson. “She’s always been a leader, but tonight, in the biggest game of her career, she stepped up on defense and on offense. Seeing her fly around out there was a really proud moment for me, because she’s grown in her four years.”
Junior center Macee Williams scored 13 points on 5-of-14 shooting. Junior forward Katelyn O’Reilly contributed seven rebounds. Sophomore guard Destiny Perkins, at 5-foot-6, added seven rebounds.
The Horizon League regular season champion Jaguars (23-8) led No. 2 Green Bay wire-to-wire. The total of 37 points, a season-low for Green Bay, was 30 points below its season average. Green Bay (19-13) had won its previous seven games. When failing to score at least 60 points, the Phoenix lost seven of eight games.
“Obviously we are thrilled to make history as a program,” Parkinson said. “Couldn’t be prouder of our kids. In the most important game of the year they were locked in. We build our program on defense so to hold them to no points in the fourth quarter I think is a great way to finish it out and have a chance to go to the NCAA tournament.”
In just their third season in the Horizon League, the Jaguars denied Green Bay a 17th league tournament championship in 25 years. The nine other Horizon League members have won a total of eight. A year after the Phoenix lost to Wright State in the 2019 final, the loss on Tuesday marks the first time Green Bay has failed to clinch the league’s automatic NCAA tournament bid in back-to-back seasons since 1995 and 1996, its first two years of conference membership.
The Jaguars are no stranger to success, having been on the cusp of the tournament in previous seasons under Parkinson, including an overtime loss to Western Illinois in the Summit League championship in 2017.
Then a freshman, Hoopingarner gave IUPUI a 62-61 lead in the final seconds of that championship game, only to watch Western Illinois steal the victory from the Jags in an overtime win.
Near the end of her senior season, she wasn’t going to let history repeat itself.
“It’s been a journey since then,” said Hoopingarner, a 5-foot-5 guard from Greenwood, Indiana. “This team has grown and changed so much since 2017, but for me I always have that in the back of my mind. Just that feeling of ‘we almost had it.’ This whole season has been predicated on taking it one day at a time preparing for a moment like today.”
Hoopingarner was joined on the All-Tournament team by Williams, Caitlyn Hibner of Green Bay, Frankie Wurtz of Green Bay and Ally Niece of Northern Kentucky.
The Phoenix cut into the Jags’ 31-19 halftime lead with an 18-point third quarter. Madison Wolf, a senior forward, came off the Green Bay bench to score six of her eight points. “I thought our kids played well,” Green Bay coach Kevin Borseth said. “We just weren’t able to hit some key baskets and that makes a difference.”
Wurtz, a senior guard, hit a 3-pointer with 29 seconds left in the third quarter to make the score 42-37. Seven minutes earlier, the IUPUI lead had been 13. The players on the Green Bay bench jumped out of their seats. Green Bay’s championship pedigree had begun to create a crisis for the Jaguars. In the semifinal round, Wurtz lifted Green Bay past Northern Kentucky 50-49 with a pair of layups in the final 19 seconds.
Her basket at the end of the third quarter was her only score of the game.
The Phoenix never scored again.
“Besides just playing hard, the kids really stuck to the game plan tonight,” Parkinson said. “Frankie Wurtz is an incredible player, and obviously she willed them to a win against Northern Kentucky. Tonight we wanted to take her and (Hailey) Oskey out of the game.”
Oskey, a sophomore guard, scored just four points. Hibner, a junior guard, led the Phoenix with nine points.
The Phoenix limited Williams at the offensive end, but the two-time Horizon League Player of the Year found other ways to impact the game with nine rebounds and three assists.
“It starts in practice,” the junior from Veedersburg, Ind. said. “We work on if they’re doubling me, which most teams double me. If they double me then I can kick it out to a shooter, especially Holly. They left her wide open most of the game.”
Hoopingarner knocked down four of five 3-point shots — three coming on passes from Williams — as the Jags connected on 6-of-14 from behind the arc. Sophomore Rachel McLimore also reached double-figures with 10 points for the Jags.
Green Bay was just 17-of-50 (34%) from the field. IUPUI outrebounded the Phoenix, 50-37.
Limited by injuries through much of the season, the Phoenix started the season 5-7 before winning their last six regular season games in search of a 19th NCAA Tournament appearance.
“We couldn’t even see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Borseth said of the early part of the season. “Obviously to get in this position to play for a championship means a lot. I thought our kids played well. We just weren’t able to hit some key baskets and that makes a difference.”
After leading the Jags to six WNIT appearances in his first nine seasons at the helm, Parkinson and IUPUI are NCAA tournament bound for the first time in school history.
With the help of all 11 current players and the dozens that came before them.
“It’s been quite a journey from where we were to where we are now,” Parkinson said. “There are a lot of former players that have helped build this program that weren’t fortunate enough to cut down the nets like we did today, that helped position us to where we are now. We are grateful for what they’ve done.”
