Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne defeated Oakland University women’s basketball 57-55 at the Gates Sports Center Saturday.

Freshman guard Elena Popkey finished with 15 points and five rebounds. Junior guard Zakiya Minifee scored ten points with seven rebounds.

Thanks to an early 6-0 run, Oakland (8-12, 2-6 Summit) led IPFW (7-13, 3-5 Summit) 11-3 with 11:38 remaining in the first half. IPFW swung the momentum back in their favor by responding with a 7-0 run of their own to tie it 12-12.

Sophomore guard Haley Seibert hit a three-pointer to put IPFW on top, 15-12 with 7:43 left in the first half.

From there, it was a game of back and forth between the two teams as both battled to regain the lead.

After another three-pointer from Seibert, who finished the game with eight points and four rebounds, the Mastodons finished out the first half with a 22-18 lead.

Oakland started off the second half with a layup from Popkey to trim the lead to two. Freshman forward Olivia Nash hit the three-point jumper to put Oakland on top, 23-22.

Nash scored nine points and grabbed six rebounds for the Grizzlies.

With 13:39 remaining in the game, Popkey made a three-pointer to give Oakland a ten point lead, 35-25. Nash pushed Oakland to a 12-point edge with a layup to make it 37-25.

IPFW began to fight back, going on a 7-0 run to get within five points with 8:26 remaining.

Oakland couldn’t hold IPFW off as they tied the game 50-50 with just 2:23 left in the game.

The game came down to the wire with the Grizzlies leading by two with a minute and a half left to play. Junior guard Erin Murphy’s layup at the 17-second mark put IPFW up by one point.

Murphy’s free throw turned out to be the last point of the game as Fort Wayne defeated Oakland 57-55.

Oakland out rebounded IPFW 37-28. The Grizzlies were 22-55 shooting (40%) while IPFW shot 21-54 (39%).

After a three-game road swing, Oakland returns home to the Athletics Center O’rena against Omaha Feb. 2 at 2:00 p.m.