It’s been one month since the IU women’s basketball team has lost a game.
Dating back to Jan. 20 in East Lansing, Michigan, when the Hoosiers took down the Spartans 69-65, IU has rallied off eight consecutive victories.
Five of those came at home against Wisconsin, Rutgers, Northwestern, Illinois and Nebraska. The road wins were at Purdue and most recently at Minnesota on Tuesday night.
The Gophers are the third highest scoring team in the NCAA this season led by senior guard Carlie Wagner.
Wagner averages 17.6 points per game and torched IU with 34 points in this game.
However, the Hoosiers had a counter. For the second straight game, senior guard Tyra Buss scored 30 plus points, totaling 36 tonight.
“Tyra came up big in the fourth,” IU Coach Teri Moren said. “I thought her threes were timely.”
The Hoosiers entered the fourth quarter down two until those timely threes by Buss started raining down.
One minute into the quarter, it was tied at 56 — Buss three. With five minutes to go, the Hoosiers were up just one, 62-61 — two consecutive Buss threes. A minute and half remaining in the game and IU was hanging on to a tight five-point lead — another Buss three.
That last three pushed the lead to eight and sealed Minnesota’s fate. The Hoosiers knocked down their free throws in the final seconds to get the 82-70 victory. It was IU’s first win at the Barn since 2011.
Along with her 36 points, Buss also had seven assists and five rebounds. She is now one assist away from breaking the all-time assists record at IU.
Freshman guard Bendu Yeaney also had a productive night for the Hoosiers. She finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
“It was such a quiet double-double,” Moren said. “The one rebound she came up with late in the fourth was probably the biggest rebound of the game. We obviously need solid play from our freshmen, and her and JP continue to improve.”
JP, freshman guard Jaelynn Penn, had eight points and five rebounds, and provided solid defense for the Hoosiers throughout the night.
Senior forward Amanda Cahill and junior forward Kym Royster each put up 10 points.
Moren thought defensively her team got off to a sluggish start as they trailed 7-2 out the gates. But, she said they cleaned things up especially in the second half.
In the second half, IU held Minnesota to just 28.2-percent shooting and outscored the Gophers 28-14 in the final frame.
These eight consecutive wins have tied an IU record for women’s basketball.
“It was a great road win for our group,” Moren said. “I think people forget the conference schedule was really difficult. We just had to stay patient and I think that you’ve seen the early lessons we learned from Big Ten play.”
