Indiana women’s basketball continued play in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in Nassau, Bahamas, with a win over No. 18 Baylor University in the semifinal round Sunday.
Baylor came off a 101-55 victory over the University of Southern Mississippi in the first round of the tournament Saturday, the third game where it scored 100 points or more this season. The Bears made 15 3-pointers and shot 57.4% from the field against the Golden Eagles.
But on Sunday, the Indiana defense held the high-scoring Baylor offense to 65 points and limited it to 7 3-pointers and 33.3% from field goal range.
Junior guard Shay Ciezki led the Hoosiers with 34 points and shot 80% from 3-point range.
Baylor won tipoff and senior center Aaronette Vonleh scored a layup for the Bears’ first possession of the game. Indiana responded with a 17-0 lead sparked by a free throw from graduate student guard Sydney Parrish and a driving layup made by junior guard Yarden Garzon.
Parrish collided with Baylor junior forward Kyla Abraham with just under five minutes remaining in the second half. She then exited the game and was helped to the locker room with an apparent left knee injury. A few seconds later, Ciezki was tripped and was helped to the bench by graduate student Chloe Moore-McNeil and junior guard Lexus Bargesser, but she returned to the court with just over three and a half minutes remaining in the first half.
The Bears went on a 7-0 run to end the second quarter and pull within 4 points of the Hoosiers. Ciezki was Indiana’s leading scorer in the first half with 14 points and was perfect from beyond the arc.
Parrish returned to the Indiana bench after halftime with crutches and a bag of ice wrapped around her left knee.
The Hoosiers and the Bears were tied with at 46 just under five minutes remaining in the third quarter, but Ciezki hit a wide-open 3-pointer to give Indiana the lead and spark a 7-0 run.
In the fourth quarter, Indiana's lead grew to 15 points over Baylor. The Bears went on a 9-0 run, but it wasn’t enough to flip the lead, especially with two of their starters, junior forward Darianna Littlepage-Buggs and graduate student guard Sarah Andrews, on the sideline after they fouled out of the game.
The Hoosiers will face the winner of Sunday’s match between University of North Carolina and Villanova University at noon Monday in the Battle 4 Atlantis championship game. The contest will stream on ESPN2.
Follow reporters Dalton James (@DaltonMJames) and Savannah Slone (@savrivers06) and columnist Ryan Canfield (@RyanCanfieldOnX) for updates throughout the Indiana women’s basketball season.
