Through all of the whistles, fouls and stoppages in play, IU carried on to cruise past Vanderbilt 94-61 victory against and move to 2-0 on the season.
Following a win Friday night against Presbyterian, the Hoosiers came out right where they left off. Behind four double-digit scorers, IU kept extending its lead against Vanderbilt as the game progressed. By the middle of the third quarter, IU had put the game out of reach.
The physicality resulted in 29 free throws for the Hoosiers, which made 22. Five Commodores had four or more fouls and did not not leave much room for comfort for the Hoosier players.
“I felt like it had an opportunity to get really physical in the first quarter, but the officials did a nice job getting the game under control,” IU Coach Teri Moren said. “Anytime that happens, your conversation with your kids is really simple. Either we lay down or we fight. This group, as we saw last year, has a fight about them.”
IU never trailed against Vanderbilt. It started right off the bat with IU senior guard Alexis Gassion laying it in and getting the foul too. She scored IU’s first five points and a career high 22 total in addition to five rebounds and three assists.
Gassion said this is definitely how she wants to play as a combo guard.
“I feel like when I’m at my best attacking,” Gassion said. “Then I set up and find opportunities for everyone else.”
It wasn’t just Gassion, though. IU juniors Amanda Cahill and Tyra Buss also turned in double-figure scoring days. Cahill added 17 points and six boards, and Buss scored 11 points, including her 1,000th point, and added five assists.
Senior Amber Deane was the other Hoosier to reach double figures. She added 10 points off the bench. Deane paced the bench scorers for IU, who totaled 38 points Sunday.
Throughout the game, the Hoosiers just kept on pushing. They led by eight after the first quarter, 12 at halftime and 23 after three quarters. IU opened the third quarter on a 12-0 run and used defense to propel the offense forward.
“I thought, for the most part, we were pretty sound,” Moren said of her team’s defense. “We got some momentum, started scoring a little easier. Give our kids credit for not looking at the scoreboard and putting their heads down and trying to execute and still pushing tempo.”
Moving forward, the Hoosiers now hit the road for two consecutive games Moren said she thinks will be good for the team. They’ll get away from Bloomington and test themselves against Chattanooga on Thursday and Western Kentucky on Saturday.
“Are we ready?” Moren said. “I don’t know, but we better be ready.”
