The IU women’s basketball team defeated Morehead State in Assembly Hall on Friday night 98-57. The Hoosiers are now 3-0 on the season and averaging 98 points per game.
The 294 total points scored by the Hoosiers in their three games this year is the most in any three-game stretch in program history.
One of the bright spots in the game was the play by the Hoosier forwards. Sophomore Jenn Anderson, sophomore Lyndsey Leikem, and freshman Amanda Cahill combined for 34 points and 21 rebounds.
Anderson had a game-high 17 points herself and simply dominated down low when she was in the game, bullying the smaller Eagle forwards all night.
“I would say that my teammates got me the ball when I was open,” Anderson said. “Their hard work lead to my easy finishes so it’s credit to my teammates.”
IU Coach Teri Moren also said she thought Anderson was terrific in the game and tried to exploit her inside skill.
“We really felt that we had an advantage on the inside and that was part of our game plan,” Moren said. “The thing that I’ve been impressed with Jenn is just her composure, her soft hands. She is a load in there to guard.”
Cahill was impressive herself, notching a double-double – the first of her career. She gathered 14 rebounds to accompany her 11 points.
“Yes it’s a very good opportunity to have and it’s a lot of credit to my teammates who gave me the ball,” Cahill said. “This year we’re a little down on posts so a big emphasis is for the posts to rebound, and I'm just trying my best to do that role.”
IU sophomore guard Larryn Brooks also crept close to a double-double. She finished with 15 points and eight assists on the night and zero turnovers. The Hoosiers as a team were impressive in that category, totaling 23 assists to just eight turnovers total.
Six Hoosiers reached double figures in scoring, including IU freshman guard Tyra Buss.
However, she didn’t quite look like the star rookie of the last two games. She finished with 16 points on the night, but was just 3-of-9 from the charity stripe and had just one steal. She had 15 thefts in the previous two games.
Despite that, it was another comfortable victory for the Hoosiers where they approached 100 points and held their opponent under 60. But IU did look challenged at times and Moren left the floor with some takeaways for improvement.
“There’s always things to improve on,” Moren said. “You look at that 15 offensive rebounds(by Morehead State) – those are the statistics that keep coaches up at night.
“I thought that we still took some quick threes, our gap defense was better tonight and our rotations were average. Those are things that we’ll continue to work on.”
The Hoosiers won’t have much time to improve before their next game on Sunday against Incarnate Word in Assembly Hall. But Moren did say the team is still learning and has time to adjust.
“I don’t know that we’ll ever play a perfect game,” Moren said. “There were a lot of good things that happened tonight, and I think there are things that we build on and continue to work. But it’s early in the season and we kind of know that we haven’t got this whole thing figured out.”
