In its losses to Harvard University and Butler University, Indiana women’s basketball lacked a sense of urgency and physicality on offense and defense. The Hoosiers struggled guarding and eliminating turnovers in their two losses.
On Sunday, Indiana snapped its two-game losing streak on the backs of physical performances from its veterans to its bench players.
“We knew it would take a bunch of us,” head coach Teri Moren said postgame.
Indiana women’s basketball defeated No. 24 Stanford University 79-66 and ended a two-game losing streak. Graduate student guard Chloe Moore-McNeil led all scorers with 21 points and four steals.
Indiana’s efforts for more physical play started early with the messages that the veterans had for their teammates. Moore-McNeil labeled Indiana basketball as "blue collar,” a team that works hard for each other.
Moren also sent a message to her team to play Stanford physically from the beginning.
“We just asked them to be physical,” Moren said. “We asked them to stay connected. We asked them to be aggressive. Offensively, we wanted to play in space. We wanted to play faster.”
Junior guard Shay Ciezki helped spark the fast play for the Hoosiers. Ciezki scored from all areas, running down the court for layups and making shots from 3-point range. With 19 points, Ciezki recorded her highest-scoring game as a Hoosier.
“I thought Shay did a great job of getting us going early which just created energy for us,” Moren said.
Moren added that she wanted her players to play tight without fouling, which the Hoosiers struggled with at times against the Cardinal. Four players finished the game with three or more personal fouls, and junior forward Lilly Meister fouled out of the game with just over one minute left in the fourth quarter.
While sophomore guard Juliana LaMendola scored just 1 point for Indiana, Moren complimented her defensive efforts against a strong Stanford team. LaMendola played physically against sophomore forward Nunu Agara, who leads Stanford in scoring this season.
“My MVP from the defensive side of the ball tonight is Jules,” Moren said. “She came in and did a great job on (Agara), just giving her some resistance. She took a big charge down in the second half.”
The physical play was also sparked by the players' disappointment in their 64-96 loss to the Cardinal last season.
“We just wanted to win,” junior guard Yarden Garzon said. “Everyone on the team wanted to do everything in their ability to win this game and come with good energy. Some of us know how it felt at Stanford last year, and we didn’t want to feel it again.”
Moren said that motivation to beat Stanford also came from Indiana’s back-to-back losses to Harvard and Butler, bringing the Hoosiers’ record to 1-2 for the first time since 2008-09.
“They’ve been a little ticked off,” Moren said “It’s never a bad thing to play a little mad.”
The Hoosiers will be back in action against Columbia University at 4 p.m. Nov. 23 in Nassau, Bahamas, in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament. The contest will stream on FloHoops.
Follow reporters Dalton James (@DaltonMJames) and Savannah Slone (@savrivers06) and columnist Ryan Canfield (@RyanCanfieldOnX) for updates throughout the Indiana women’s basketball season.
