In the second and final game of IU’s first road trip of the season, streaky shooting and foul trouble plagued the No. 23 Hoosiers in an 85-74 defeat at Western Kentucky.
The Hilltoppers (2-1) were led by junior wing Tashia Brown, who poured in 28 points on 10 of 20 shooting from the field. Junior guard Tyra Buss paced IU (3-1) with 24 points and three assists.
IU led most of the way in the first half, and held a 17-14 lead after the first quarter. Junior forward Amanda Cahill was the driving force early for the Hoosiers, and finished with 12 points, eight rebounds and six assists despite fouling out in the fourth quarter.
Fouls were the biggest issue of the day for IU. Sophomore forward Kym Royster sat out most of the game due to foul trouble and finished with four fouls in 12 minutes while six other Hoosiers had at least two fouls.
IU committed 24 fouls as a team.
The Hilltoppers took full advantage of IU’s physicality, going 26 of 28 from the charity stripe. Conversely, the Hoosiers shot just 13 of 20 on their freebies. IU never quite found their rhythm from beyond the arc either, making just five of 20 attempts.
IU fell behind 34-30 at halftime but scored the first five points of the third quarter to take a one-point lead. A WKU three-point play would give the Hilltoppers the lead for good, and the Hoosier deficit hung around 10 points for the rest of the game.
The Hoosiers trailed just 63-56 at the end of the third quarter, but Cahill picked up her fourth foul early in the final period and Western Kentucky followed with a deep three to push the lead to double digits. From there, the game was hardly in doubt.
Western Kentucky is now 41-0 under current head coach Michelle Clark-Heard when scoring 80 points or more. The Hilltoppers entered the game coming off a loss and protected their two-year streak of not losing back-to-back games.
Senior guard Alexis Gassion chipped in 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists for IU. She now sits just 18 points away from 1,000 for her career. Earlier this season, Buss became the fastest to 1,000 career points in program history.
Up next for IU is a home matchup against UMass Lowell at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 23. The Hoosiers will look to bounce back against the 0-3 River Hawks, who lost to defending Big Ten champs Maryland by a score of 100-44 earlier this year.
