The last time Indiana women's basketball scored fewer than 40 points in a game was Jan. 28, 2013. That was 4,003 days ago.
On Monday, Indiana was out of sorts in its Battle 4 Atlantis championship game against No.16 University of North Carolina and fell victim to the previously mentioned feat. The Hoosiers lost to the Tar Heels 69-39 in Nassau, Bahamas.
With the Hoosiers already notching two ranked wins this season against then-No. 24 Stanford University on Nov. 17 and against then-No. 18 Baylor University on Sunday, Indiana looked to match the number of ranked wins it had last season in just seven games.
You can’t get to the nitty gritty of this game before acknowledging this: North Carolina is a great team that, according to head coach Teri Moren, had its best day Monday — and Indiana had the opposite. Indiana looked as bad as it has ever been in Moren’s 12-year tenure.
10, 16, 7 and 6.
Those are the scoring totals by quarter for Indiana on Monday. With such performances, Indiana will not fare well in games against Big Ten opponents.
The matchup started sluggishly for both teams as the score showed 11-10 after the first 10 minutes. But once the Tar Heels got going from the field, the Hoosiers had no response. It seemingly was UNC’s pace, intensity and efficiency that plagued Indiana.
While the offense was not able to back it up, Indiana, surprisingly, was lackluster on defense as well, especially defending the long-range shots. North Carolina came into the championship game in Nassau ranked 197th in the nation in 3-point percentage. The Tarheels were 11 for 23 from deep in the matchup.
Indiana’s poor defense of the 3-point line is surprising because Stanford, which was 2 for 11 at Simon Skjdot Assembly Hall earlier this month, ranks third in the country in 3-point percentage. The Cardinal not only couldn’t make those shots, but the Hoosiers also suffocated them and didn’t allow many more attempts after the misses. Additionally, Stanford is of course first in the Atlantic Coast Conference with a 3-point percentage while North Carolina is 16th.
We have seen time and again that when Indiana doesn’t shoot the 3-ball well, results reciprocate. In its three losses so far, Indiana has not made more than six 3-pointers. In the four victories, Indiana averaged six makes.
Individually, Indiana needed another big day from junior guard Shay Ciezki. Ciezki’s 34 points powered the Hoosiers on Sunday but without her high-volume scoring, her stat line in the box score told the story for Indiana on Monday.
Ciezki had 5 points on 2-of-8 shooting with one 3-pointer.
But while Ciezki’s inconsistency reappeared Monday, Indiana could’ve gotten its scoring elsewhere. Junior guard Yarden Garzon and graduate student guard Chloe Moore-McNeil combined for 18 points on 8-of-24 shooting, including 2 of 10 from deep.
Also, Indiana was without graduate student guard Sydney Parrish due to a left knee injury. Essentially the Hoosiers were playing with a bench player in their starting five with sophomore guard Juliana LaMendola in Parrish’s absence. Indiana was outscored by North Carolina 35-8 in bench points.
“Today, we just didn’t have the urgency level for the 40 minutes that we needed,” Moren said postgame. “We’ll have to respond once we get back to Bloomington and get ready for the next opponent.”
While Indiana has rebounded from its two early losses with as many ranked wins, this loss would’ve reignited a buzz and reliability that the fans may have lost.
Indiana will continue to be without graduate student guard Sydney Parrish as she missed a full game for the first time this season on Monday. It was noted by the ESPN2 commentators that she went through warmups.
With UNC holding this ranking and emerging as one of the top teams in the ACC, this could be one of the better losses on Indiana’s schedule. But only time will tell.
Indiana will indeed look to respond when it takes on the University of Maine on the back end of a home-and-home series. Last season, former Indiana forward Mackenzie Holmes led the Hoosiers to victory against the Black Bears in her home state. This Sunday, Holmes will be on the sideline in her graduate manager role. The game will take place at 2 p.m. Dec. 1 inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
Follow reporters Dalton James (@DaltonMJames) and Savannah Slone (@savrivers06) and columnist Ryan Canfield (@RyanCanfieldOnX) for updates throughout the Indiana women’s basketball season.
