Junior guard Grace Berger recorded her second triple-double of the season on the road against Penn State on Jan. 7, and it was only fitting she’d do it again in a rematch with the Lady Lions on Wednesday.
Before this season, no IU women’s basketball player had ever recorded a triple-double. Now Berger’s got three of her own and has established herself in a special place in program history. She’s still the only player in the country with more than one this season.
Her 17 points were second only to sophomore forward Mackenzie Holmes, and Berger also chipped in a team-high 11 rebounds and 10 assists in IU’s 90-65 win over Penn State.
“Congratulations to Grace Berger for her third triple-double that she’s posted, that’s pretty special,” IU head coach Teri Moren said.
Berger already had 8 points, four rebounds and four assists by halftime, but the Hoosiers found themselves trailing. IU went scoreless in the final 2:10 of the first half as Penn State was able to seize momentum and a 40-39 lead heading into the locker room.
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The Hoosiers countered with a 12-0 run over the first 4:40 of the third quarter and started to separate from the Lady Lions. Penn State was having its way near and beyond the 3-point line in the first half but IU’s defense was able to tighten up its man coverage the rest of the way. The Hoosiers outscored the Lady Lions 51-25 in the third and fourth quarters alone.
Once IU was working with a double-digit lead down the stretch, Berger’s triple-double came to her naturally as she facilitated the offense. She already had a double-double early in the fourth quarter, it was just the assists that were missing from the coveted stat line.
Moren said she and the bench knew that Berger needed just a pair of assists in the game’s closing minutes for her to earn the triple-double, and they were trying to create an opportunity for her to do just that.
“We knew over there on the sideline that she needed two assists to get it,” Moren said. “We were trying like crazy to put her in a situation where she could feed Mack, and we pulled it off.”
Holmes finished with 25 points on 10-of-12 shooting and capped off her dominant offensive performance by helping Berger pick up her final two assists needed for the triple-double.
Holmes said she was also aware of the situation but that it didn’t add any pressure for her. She knew Berger was confident in her ability to create space near the basket for a scoring chance, and it was just like capitalizing on any other feed from one of her teammates.
“When you have really good teammates on your team that can make shots and you have someone like Mackenzie where you just lob it up to them and she’ll spin around and use her footwork to make a layup,” Berger said. “The assists are probably the hardest part of a triple-double but when you have teammates that can make shots like that, it’s not too hard.”
