IU losing streak reaches 6 in another defeat against Penn State

The IU women’s basketball team (8-12, 2-6) lost its sixth straight game Sunday, falling to Penn State (16-5, 5-2) 82-69.

The Hoosiers were dominated in the rebounding battle, 61-36. PSU forwards Nikki Greene and Mia Nickson outrebounded IU’s rebounding total alone, pulling down 20 and 17 boards, respectively.

IU played from behind for nearly the entire game. The Hoosier’s largest lead of the game was at the 17:05 mark of the first half with the score 6-2.

One of the few bright spots for the Hoosiers was the scoring effort of junior forward Hope Elam. She shot 6-of-15 from the field and 5-of-10 from beyond the arc to finish with 21 points. However, Elam’s five 3-pointers were the only baskets from long range that the Hoosiers made. As a team, IU shot 26.3 percent from 3-point range.

The Hoosiers’ defense limited the Lady Lions to a 35.1 field goal percentage, but ultimately, IU couldn’t contain Nickson.

The Penn State sophomore forward recorded a double-double against IU, including 17 rebounds — 14 of which were offensive — and 25 points.

According to an interview done after the game on www.gopsusports.com, Nickson said the Hoosiers’ rebounding woes came from leaving the paint open.

“I think that they thought that our shooters were going to take control of the game, so when the shot went up they were really concerned with boxing out the shooter,” she said. “They left the paint wide open for Nikki (Greene) and me to go up and get the ball.”

In that same interview, IU coach Legette-Jack said this loss represents another opportunity for her team to learn from its
mistakes.

“Our post players kind of went to sleep, but we’re a work in progress,” Legette-Jack said. “We’re never going to get used to losing or learning these lessons through defeats. We’re going to go back to the drawing board and try to figure out how we stop another Mia (Nickson) moving forward.”