By Samantha Franz

Sports Editor

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — On paper, the IPFW Mastodons appeared to be easy competition for Oakland University. IPFW had only won five games thus far this season, compared to Oakland’s 12, and coming into the game, the Mastodons were among the lower-ranked teams in the conference. 

But IPFW (6-11, 4-3) senior Johnna Lewis-Carter’s 3-pointer in the game’s first 10 seconds would set the tone for the entire first half, as OU would never gain the lead in those first 20 minutes.  

The Mastodons rode the wave of 5-for-9 three-point shooting in the first half and held OU to 40 percent shooting from the floor. The Golden Grizzlies (12-5, 5-2) got as close as a two-point deficit in the first half, but they appeared to be running on an empty tank and couldn’t muster the momentum to surpass the Mastodons, trailing 36-29 at the half. 

“We felt like we came out with a lack of energy,” head coach Beckie Francis said. “They were mad that they dug themselves a hole and were down seven, so they knew that had to come out with more energy. They admitted they didn’t come out as energized as they should have.”

Oakland rebooted in the second half and after falling into a 14-point hole with 18:26 on the clock, OU sophomore Hanna Reising scored five consecutive points to spark the Golden Grizzlies. They brought IPFW’s lead down to seven points, 43-35, with about 16 minutes to go. 

After that, key plays from sophomore Melissa Jeltema and junior April Kidd brought the score to 49-47. 

But OU would fall into another scoring drought and IPFW would be up by as many as nine points before the Golden Grizzlies gained their first lead with 6:47 remaining in the game, thanks to a pair of free throws that made the score 59-58. 

The game would see saw with four more ties in the next four minutes until Mastodon freshman Jordon Zuppe sank a key jump shot at 2:06 to bring the score to 69-67. 

Free throws further propelled the Mastodons to a 73-67 lead with approximately 37 seconds to go. Reising knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to bring the score to 73-70. But it would be fouls that would bring the Golden Grizzlies down for good, as Zuppe nailed two more freebies and the Golden Grizzlies simply ran out of time to catch up, falling 75-70. 

Some questionable calls on the court sent the Mastodons to the free throw line multiple times in the second half, which counted for 13 of IPFW’s second half points. But Francis says its all a part of playing on the road.

“I always tell them on the road, it’s a 10-point difference, so if you get a call here and there, you have to expect that on the road,” Francis said. “We’ve got to be that much better [to overcome that] and we dug ourselves such a hole that we couldn’t get that much better.”

The Golden Grizzlies still have two more games in their road swing, with first place Western Illinois (8-9, 6-0) and IUPUI (7-11, 3-3) on the horizon. But Francis feels this game will be a strong motivator for them rather than a downer.

“We get really pissed off when we lose and I have no doubt we’re going to come back energized,” she said.