No. 15 IU women’s basketball defeated Illinois 58-50 Sunday at State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. The Hoosiers, 13-4 overall and 11-2 in Big Ten play, completed the 2-0 season sweep of the Illini and have won four consecutive games.
In its 79-56 win over Illinois on New Year’s Eve, IU led by double-digits after the first quarter for just the third time this season. The start to Sunday’s game involved more defense. The Hoosiers led just 13-9 after trailing twice through the first 10 minutes of play.
“We struggled offensively,” senior guard Ali Patberg said. “It definitely wasn’t our night in all areas but, like Coach said, it’s not gonna be pretty all the time.”
As IU extended its early lead heading into halftime, Illinois struggled to guard without fouling. The Illini were called for 18 fouls, and the Hoosiers made 16 of their 20 free throw attempts in the first half.
IU led 34-21 at halftime with almost half of its points coming from the free-throw line despite being held to 9-of-24 shooting from the field.
The Illini, however, turned it around in the third quarter as the Hoosiers failed to find any rhythm shooting the ball. IU shot 20% from the field, didn’t get any points from the free-throw line and was outscored by Illinois 16-10 in the quarter.
“We knew we had to go down and guard, that was the biggest thing if we were gonna get out of here with a win,” head coach Teri Moren said. “Illinois missed some shots, but I thought we did our part.”
The Illini cut the deficit to 7 points entering the fourth quarter and brought it to within 1 late in the game, but the Hoosiers ultimately hit shots and made stops to pull away for the win. They were up by 18 points in the first half and led just 51-50 before ending the game on a 7-0 run over the final 2:11 of play.
IU’s 58 points is the fewest it has scored in a win and matches the Dec. 17 loss to University of Tennessee for its lowest point total of the season. The Hoosiers shot a collective 31.6% from the field, but no individual performance stood out more than sophomore forward Mackenzie Holmes. IU’s leading scorer was 1-of-16 shooting the ball and finished with 7 points.
“We’ve been so fortunate to see her so good and consistent that this is uncommon,” Moren said of Holmes. “Nobody feels worse about her performance than Mack does, but she is happy that her team got the win.”
IU returns to Bloomington to take on No. 12 Michigan at 6 p.m. Thursday with a chance to pick up its fifth straight win.
