From the opening tip, the Hoosiers pushed the tempo in the season-opening exhibition Sunday against Division II University of Indianapolis. Sophomore forward Kym Royster batted the tip to junior forward Amanda Cahill, and IU was off to the races. Cahill dished the ball to junior guard Tyra Buss, who found senior guard Alexis Gassion for an alley-oop layup attempt.
Gassion missed the layup but was fouled and sunk a free throw. The ball never even touched the floor, but the tone of the game had been set. From there, IU opened the game on a 17-0 run before Indianapolis could get on the scoreboard. IU went on to win 87-58.
“We wanted to really try to push tempo, and obviously that got us playing a little bit faster,” IU Coach Teri Moren said of the hot start. “I thought it got UIndy on their heels, and the result of that was we got some easy buckets.”
In the middle of the second quarter, IU led just 39-28, but a 14-0 run to end the half gave the Hoosiers a 25-point halftime lead. Royster had 16 of her game-high 18 points in the first two quarters. It was a breakout game for the Ohio native, who also tallied eight rebounds in her first career start.
Royster was able to keep up with IU’s run-and-gun offense, which Buss said after the game makes it much easier on the guards to feed the low-post players. Throughout the first half, Buss was able to look up and see Royster running alongside or ahead of her on nearly every fast break play.
Moren said Royster earning a spot in the starting lineup was a result of consistent production in practice. For her part, Royster said she thought the hard work she’d been putting in throughout the preseason is finally paying off. Moren said the starting lineup will remain fluid in the early part of IU’s season.
Buss finished the game with 16 points and three steals, while Cahill added 10 points and eight boards. .
The second half was a mostly sloppy affair, with IU shooting 50 percent but turning the ball over nine times. Moren said after the game Indianapolis’ shift to a zone defense had IU on its heels a bit because her team had just implemented its zone offense earlier in the week.
Because Sunday’s game was just an exhibition, Moren said she wasn’t concerned too much with the negatives, and she said she knows what the team needs to work on this coming week as they prepare to play the first regular season game against Presbyterian on Friday.
“We’ll be better because of it,” Moren said. “Great coaches make adjustments. We’ll go back and have great film footage to show our kids and share with our kids.”
