Hoosiers win on Simone Deloach’s layup in final seconds

IU had its back against the wall. Down by one point with time winding down against Northwestern, the Hoosiers needed a bucket to keep their season alive.

Senior forward Simone Deloach got it.

Senior forward Tabitha Gerardot backed her defender down in the post. As Northwestern’s help defense collapsed on her, she saw Deloach was left unchecked.
Gerardot dumped the ball to Deloach who swiftly jumped up and put in a layup to put IU up 66-65.

Deloach said the play wasn’t drawn up. To her, the play was a blur.

“It just worked,” Deloach said.

Deloach’s layup with 11 seconds remaining was the only lead change of the game. Northwetsern’s Maggie Lyon missed a jump shot and freshman guard Alexis Gassion sprinted for a rebound as time expired.

As the buzzer sounded, IU’s players rushed the floor to celebrate. IU defeated Northwestern 66-65 in the third round of the WNIT to advance to the quarterfinals.

“If you’re going to lead one time in the game, we picked a great time to lead,” IU Coach Curt Miller said.

The Hoosiers (21-12) trailed by eight points with just 4:28 left in the game. IU had fallen behind by as many as 14 points thanks in large part to 17 turnovers.

The Hoosiers had a second-half collapse against Northwestern (17-16) earlier in the season that the team had fresh in their minds after watching film this week. Despite the deficit late in the game, Miller said he preached to his team to stay focused on winning and not getting down on themselves.

“They looked at me and shook their head, ‘we got it,’” Miller said. “Tonight we had to scratch and claw and it never felt like we could get there…We’re growing up. We are truly growing up before everybody’s eyes.”

Miller said the game could not have been scripted any better than having the senior pair of Gerardot and Deloach score when IU needed it the most.

“That last play is all made. That is not great execution. That is players making plays down the stretch,” Miller said. “Tabitha got the penetration, read the help and made a good pass…Couldn’t script it any better for that senior class than what happened at the end.”

The Hoosiers would have never been in a position to win late had it not been for a stretch of eight consecutive defensive stops in the second half.

“(The defensive stops) meant a lot because the whole game you know, we kind of struggled defensively,” freshman guard Larryn Brooks said. “Getting those eight consecutive it just means a lot to get out those passing lanes and that’s just something we buy into in practice.”

Brooks led the game with 27 points, shooting 5-for-9 from beyond the arc and a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Gassion and freshman Lyndsay Leikem both added 10 points apiece.

IU’s win against Northwestern sends the Hoosiers on the road Sunday at 3 p.m. to play South Dakota State in the quarterfinals of the WNIT.

After having three consecutive postseason games come down to the final seconds, the Hoosiers are confident that they can make a run with only three wins separating IU from a WNIT Championship.

In a game against Northwestern where IU nearly let the season come to an end in blowout fashion because of a struggling offense and turnovers, the Hoosiers continued to fight back to win at the end.

Brooks said it all came down to the Hoosiers trusting one another to pull through when they needed to the most.

“(Coach Miller) was just talking about his big word tonight was ‘believe,’” Brooks said. “I think we really did that tonight.”