The game was over after five minutes.
The IU women’s basketball team led Gardner-Webb 28-2 five minutes into the game Saturday in Assembly Hall. Gardner-Webb wouldn’t reach 28 points until four minutes into the second half.
The Hoosiers dominated every facet of the game on their way to a 115-54 drubbing on a record-breaking night for the program.
The previous single-game scoring record was 110 in 1991 against the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
But the Hoosiers really won the game from deep. IU broke the program record for 3-pointers in a game by shooting 16-30 from 3-point range.
The Hoosiers had 12 made 3-pointers in the first half, nearly breaking the record of 13 set against Iowa last year.
“I think today was just our day,” said sophomore Taylor Agler, who made five of her six 3-pointers and had 17 points. “I think anyone on our team has the green light if we make shots. Everyone was on.”
IU Coach Teri Moren, who is defensive-minded, was more hesitant to give the “green light.”
“I’m not so sure they have the green light, but we certainly know that we have kids that can shoot it,” Moren said. “I thought we were getting shots within our offense and knocking them down.”
Freshman guard Tyra Buss led the way for IU as she tallied 18 points, five assists and seven steals. She hounded the Runnin’ Bulldogs the whole game by playing a three-quarter court press.
The Hoosiers had 11 more thefts on the night, which put them into a tie for third in the program record book for steals in a game.
Buss also said the energy on the defensive end was fueled by making all their shots on offense.
Nothing could go wrong for IU, exemplified by a play with just less than 10 minutes in the game.
Sophomore Alexis Gassion attempted to whip a pass inside to sophomore Karlee McBride when a Gardner-Webb defender deflected the ball into the basket.
The play was scored as a 3-pointer for Gassion, who finished with 11 points.
“That obviously wasn’t the play,” Moren said, laughing. “But I think it’s fitting for the day we had and our ability to shoot it. That was one of those fluke things that happens in the game of basketball.”
Also in double digits for scoring were McBride, freshman Amanda Cahill and last season’s leading scorer, sophomore Larryn Brooks.
The Hoosiers will look to take the momentum from this game into their Tuesday contest with Valparaiso in ?Assembly Hall.
“I’m one of those coaches that doesn’t try to look ahead,” Moren said. “We have a short turnaround time, so we’ll get our kids back on Monday and prepare our kids for what’s probably going to be a good basketball team.”
