After leaving empty-handed against Miami (Fl.) and West Virginia, IU returned home on Monday night to face Yale in the Hoosiers' non-conference finale.
IU put together one of its most complete performances of the season, leading Yale for all but nine seconds as the Hoosiers took care of the Bulldogs 76-60 at Assembly Hall.
For only the second time this season, sophomore guard Tyra Buss did not lead IU in scoring. Buss scored 11 of her 13 points in the first half before picking up four fouls in the second frame. Meanwhile, junior guard Alexis Gassion led the Hoosiers offensively for the first time this year, pouring in a game-high 19 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the floor.
After corralling just one rebound against West Virginia earlier in the week, sophomore forward Amanda Cahill finished with 13 points and ten rebounds en route to her second double-double of the season.
"It's a good win after suffering two losses down in Orlando,” IU Coach Teri Moren said. “We learned a lot of great lessons from that experience, we're still trying to reclaim our identity defensively. We had a great third quarter tonight.”
The Hoosiers used a 26-16 third quarter to push their lead to 62-45 entering the fourth quarter. Gassion, Cahill and sophomore guard Jess Walter all hit 3-pointers to spark a quick 11-0 IU run to start the third frame and give the Hoosiers an insurmountable lead.
Junior guard Karlee McBride ended the quarter with five points of her own, finishing with a season-high 16 points against the Bulldogs.
"Coming out of the half, we were just being aggressive," Cahill said. "I think we were trying to tighten up both on the defensive end and have tighter passes on the offensive end. That led to less turnovers and led to more baskets, so that was something we could take advantage of."
Walter earned her first start of the season after missing substantial time due to a concussion suffered around the time of Hoosier Hysteria. The 6-foot guard returned to Moren’s rotation against DePaul on November 19th but struggled to contribute consistently on offense.
Prior to Yale, Walter was shooting 6-of-29 with 17 points in 131 minutes of nine games. Moren chose Walter to start in place of junior guard Tyshee Towner, who had started every game this season.
"Sometimes mixing things up isn't a bad thing,” Moren said of her decision. “Jess has probably had two of her best practices since returning from Christmas, therefore we put her in the lineup tonight because we loved her energy and she was shooting it better. "That 3-guard spot has been sort of an interesting spot for us.”
Walter played 23 minutes against Yale, tying a season-high as she finally eases into full-time work for Moren. Towner, a speedy defensive specialist, is averaging just 3.4 points per game in almost 23 minutes a game.
In two losses last week in Florida, IU turned the ball over a combined 40 times. Taking care of the basketball has been a reoccurring problem for the Hoosiers, and 11 first-half turnovers plagued the IU cause in the early going yet again.
"Turnovers always concern me,” Moren said. “Our margin of error, because of our lack of depth, size and athleticism, is really small. We have to be really great at the little things. Taking care of the ball is a huge thing, but it's something that we can control.”
The Hoosiers finished their non-conference slate with a record of 8-4. In 2014-15, IU went 10-1 prior to conference play but only played one power-conference opponent. The Hoosiers struggled in Big Ten play, going 5-15 and missing out on an above-.500 season in Moren’s rookie campaign.
This year, IU has faced ranked opponents in No. 19 DePaul, No. 23 Miami (Fl.) and No. 24 Georgia Tech, along with high-major teams such as Georgia Tech and West Virginia. The Hoosiers’ strength of schedule has moved up more than 70 positions due to scheduling changes.
"The trip to Orlando was really good for us," Moren said. "That's really strange to hear a coach say that it was good for us when you come back 0-2. Those were two teams that are going to be in the tournament. The schedule did what we hoped it would do, to prepare us for Big Ten play.”
Big Ten play begins as early as Thursday, when the Hoosiers will travel up north to Madison, Wisc. to face Wisconsin at 3 p.m. The Badgers, at 4-6, struggled through non-conference play and have lost three of their last four games.
