Hoosiers fall to Nittany Lions, continue losing streak

The IU women’s basketball team’s losing streak has now hit double digits.

The Hoosiers (5-18, 0-10 Big Ten) lost at Penn State (17-5, 7-3) Thursday at the Bryce Jordan Center 76-44 to bring their losing skid to 10 games, which serves as the longest of IU coach Felisha Legette-Jack’s tenure in Bloomington.

Senior forward Danilsa Andujar made one of two free throws two minutes into the game to make the score 5-4 and give IU its first lead, but it would also be the last.
Penn State scored 13 consecutive points during the next 3:48 to take a 17-5 lead.

IU would bring back the deficit within five with nine minutes remaining in the first half, but Penn State went on a 24-10 run leading into halftime.

The Lady Lions picked up right where they left off in the second half, outscoring IU 34-21 in the final period.

Penn State dominated the game in the shooting category. They shot 42.6 percent from the floor, 70 percent from the free-throw line and hit four of the seven 3-point attempts.

IU, meanwhile, shot 27.6 percent on field goals, 60 percent on free throws and missed all six 3-point shots.

The bright spot for the Hoosiers after this game is that they now come home to play four of their final six games in Assembly Hall. They played six of their last nine games on the road.

Leading the way for IU was junior center Sasha Chaplin and sophomore forward Milika Taufa. Chaplin came two points short of achieving her fourth double-double of the season.
 
She scored eight points and grabbed a career-high and game-high 16 rebounds while adding one assist and two steals to her stat line.

Chaplin has recorded at least 10 rebounds for four consecutive games and six times total this season.

Taufa led the team in scoring for the first time in her career, notching nine points off of three field goals and three free throws from the bench. She also grabbed five rebounds.
Junior forward Aulani Sinclair also contributed by scoring eight points and seizing seven rebounds.

She connected on both of her free-throw attempts, bringing her free-throw percentage in Big Ten games to a conference-best 96 percent.

Sinclair was unable to make any 3-pointers in this contest, ending her four game streak of hitting at least three from long range.

Her eight points ended her other four game streak of scoring in double digits.
Pacing Penn State was sophomore Maggie Lucas. She produced 24 points and two rebounds, assists, steals and blocks each.

She added four 3-pointers and shot a perfect 4-of-4 from the free-throw line.
IU will play Iowa at home to try to end its losing streak and secure the first conference win of the season.

Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. Sunday in Assembly Hall.