A day after Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall was silenced after the IU men's team lost to Indiana State, the IU women’s team gave Bloomington something to cheer about with a 93-51 victory over Arkansas State to begin the 2017-18 season.
It was a team effort for the Hoosiers, as they had five players score in double digits.
Senior guard Tyra Buss led the way with 28 points, senior forward Amanda Cahill followed her up with 13 points, freshmen guards Keyanna Warthen and Bendu Yeaney each had 11 points and junior forward Kim Royster finished with 10 points.
Both seniors finished with double-doubles in the game. Cahill added 12 rebounds, and Buss set a career high in assists with 11.
Buss said her teammates did a good job of getting open in the right spots.
“I was just attacking, and they were just finding space and getting open, so I could hit them for those shots," Buss said.
Buss wasn’t the only one on the attack for the Hoosiers. Warthen was also getting into the paint, scoring all five of her buckets on drives to the basket.
Warthen said she knows she has a quick first step, which gives her confidence to get to the basket.
In total, the Hoosiers scored 44 points in the paint.
Before the game, IU Coach Teri Moren stressed the fact she wanted her team to get to the free-throw line.
IU was able to force Arkansas State into the bonus in all four quarters and shot 25 total free throws, making 19.
“You always want to hit them all,” Moren said. “We wanted to be in the high 70's, so I’m happy with the 76 percent. I’m really proud of how aggressive we were and was happy that they did what we were asking them to do.”
Another point of emphasis for IU was turnovers. After committing 18 turnovers in the exhibition game against Gannon, the Hoosiers were able to cut that down to 14 Saturday, having only one at halftime.
“It’s fundamental stuff,” Moren said. “It was really about faking a pass to make a pass. We want to be really cognizant of being good passers, but we still have a ways to go.”
IU jumped out to an early 10-4 lead and never looked back, closing out the quarter with a 30-14 lead.
Moren said she wants to see a good start in the first four minutes of each quarter.
In the second quarter, IU started with a 5-0 run in the first two minutes. At halftime, the Hoosiers led by 26.
The third quarter began on an 8-0 run and with a 79-37 lead going into the fourth, the Hoosiers didn’t necessarily need a big run. However, they still outscored the Red Wolves in the first four-minute stretch.
All ten eligible players got minutes in this game and eight of them scored at least one shot.
This includes the five freshmen, four of whom scored points.
Buss said the group of freshmen have been coachable.
“They are going to be big for us this year,” Buss said. “They have had to grow up fast, and I think they’ve showed a lot of confidence. I couldn’t ask for a better group of freshmen to lead.”
Buss, along with Cahill, will look to replicate tonight’s performance and lead the young group into IU’s next game Nov. 14 against Southern University.
