Entering Sunday afternoon’s clash at Northwestern, IU had not won a Big Ten road game since Feb. 2, 2014.
The Hoosiers had lost their last 18 conference games that were away from Assembly Hall. IU held a 1-36 record in Big Ten road games dating back to the start of the 2011-12 season.
With 8:45 remaining in the game, it seemed as if the Hoosiers would fall yet again on the road. IU trailed Northwestern 69-62 after sophomore guard Ashley Dreary made back-to-back layups to help the Wildcats gain a fourth-quarter lead.
This time, though, layups from sophomore guard Tyra Buss sparked a 10-2 comeback run to give the Hoosiers a 72-71 lead with 5:39 to play. Buss and sophomore guard Jess Walter hit 3-pointers to keep IU ahead down the stretch.
IU halted its Big Ten road drought in Evanston, Illinois, against the No. 20 Wildcats, as Buss and sophomore Amanda Cahill combined for 41 points and 21 rebounds to pace IU past Northwestern 91-84 at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
“We’ve been talking about this moment, that it was going to come,” IU Coach Teri Moren said. “I’m pleased with our kids, their resilience. They stuck together. It was a huge fourth quarter for us. We have a lot of people on this stat sheet that were the reason why we won. It’s just a great overall win for our program.”
IU (12-8, 4-4) trailed 65-58 after three quarters of play despite leading by five points at halftime. Prior to Sunday’s game against Northwestern, Moren said the Hoosiers would have to shoot at a high percentage in order to have a chance against the duo of Dreary and junior forward Nia Coffey.
Dreary and Coffey scored 30 and 27 points respectively, but IU shot 34-of-67, 50.7 percent, from the floor — its second-best shooting performance in Big Ten play this season.
The Hoosiers were able to get offensive production from multiple players against the Wildcats.
While Buss and Cahill scored 21 and 20 points, respectively, three other IU players finished in double-figure scoring. Most notably, Walter poured in 15 points off the bench on 4-of-6 shooting from 3-point range.
“She was huge,” Moren said. “It’s nice that we have some production coming off the bench right now.”
Undefeated at Assembly Hall, IU snapped this season’s 0-4 mark in Big Ten road games. The Hoosiers were baskets away from defeating both Wisconsin and Minnesota but were unable to close out both games.
IU has had a string of late comeback wins this season. It clawed back from a nine-point deficit to Michigan and defeated Illinois despite an 11-point deficit with seven minutes remaining. Against Northwestern, IU trailed by seven with just under nine minutes to play.
“We’ve been in this situation before,” Moren said. “It’s not like we haven’t played from behind — we did that last week. That’s not something that I want to get accustomed to, but we’ve shown that we can come from behind if we stick together. They bought into that.”
Sunday’s win helped IU improve to a 4-4 record in Big Ten play and retain sole possession of No. 7 in the conference. The Hoosiers will return home to Assembly Hall on Wednesday, when IU will try to stay undefeated at home against Rutgers (12-8, 3-5). The Scarlet Knights sit in No. 9 after a 67-58 loss to Ohio State Sunday.
“The biggest thing is that we can’t have a hangover after this game,” Moren said. “This is a big win for our program because it’s been so long that we’ve had a win on the road in the Big Ten. Rutgers is a great team — they beat us twice last year. That’s the message and the motivation.”
