TULSA, Okla. - March 9 - Southern Utah women's basketball played a stretch of 10:42 over the course of the first and second half without a field goal to eventually fall to the No. 3-seeded IUPUI Jaguars 62-34 in the first round of The Summit League Women's Basketball Championship Tournament. The loss punctuates the season for the Thunderbirds with a 6-24 record while IUPUI will advance to play UMKC on Monday.

Despite the dip in offensive production, head coach Steve Hodson said he was proud of the play on the court.

"I thought the effort was fantastic," he said. "I don't think at any point that there was a lack of effort. I really thought that we competed right to the wire."

IUPUI began the game with a 3-point basket by Brykeesha Tate and held onto the lead through the rest of the half. Southern Utah trimmed the lead to its closest of two (10-8) with 11:25 showing on the clock, but the Jaguars began to distance themselves from the Thunderbirds going into the intermission. IUPUI finished the half on an 18-4 run to take a 28-12 lead into the locker rooms.

The Jaguars continued to increase the lead in the second half with a 12-1 run finally snapped by a Challis Pascucci layup with 11:38 on the clock. The lead remained in the 20's for the rest of the game as the Thunderbirds finished with the fewest points in a conference tournament game in the 62-34 defeat.

Pascucci led Southern Utah in scoring with 14 as the only player for SUU in double figures. IUPUI's Julia Whitted led all scorers with 18 points and was joined by Jernisha Cann (14) in double figures. Both players also collected double-digit rebounds with 14 and 16, respectively.

Southern Utah will now regroup for next year with four talented freshmen on the way and all but one player on the team anticipated to return for the 2008-09 campaign.