With just under five minutes to play in the second quarter, Indiana women’s basketball graduate student guard Sydney Parrish crashed into Baylor University junior forward Aaronette Vonleh. Both fell to the floor as Vonleh landed directly on Parrish’s left leg.
Unable to stand on her own, Parrish sat on the court as team trainers came to look at her left knee. With the help of trainers, Parrish headed straight to the locker room without putting weight on her left leg.
After halftime, Parrish emerged from the locker room with a bag of ice wrapped around her knee and used crutches as she returned to sit on the bench for the second half. Parrish had 5 points and three rebounds in 12 minutes before she exited the contest.
After losing one of their veteran leaders, multiple players stepped up for Indiana to claim a 73-65 victory over No. 18 Baylor on Sunday at Imperial Arena in Nassau, Bahamas, which marked the Hoosiers’ second ranked win of the season –– the first to then-No. 24 Stanford University on Nov. 17
Junior guard Shay Ciezki provided the Hoosiers with high-volume scoring, leading all scorers with 34 points.
“We needed somebody to have a special day, and it was Shay’s day,” head coach Teri Moren said postgame. “We all know that at any day, any time, any game someone can have one of those special moments for us, and today it was Shay’s time to shine.”
Ciezki found scoring opportunities from 3-point range and by driving to the basket. In her highest-scoring game as a Hoosier, Ciezki tallied four 3-pointers and shot 56.3% from the field.
Sunday’s game against the Bears was junior guard Lexus Bargesser’s second game of the season after being out for the first four games with a foot injury.
Bargesser provided valuable minutes off the bench for the Hoosiers. In her first game back from injury in Indiana’s win over Columbia University on Saturday, she played just 10 minutes. But on Sunday, Bargesser played 26 minutes.
While Bargesser scored just 5 points, she made her defensive presence known and her increased minutes gave fellow guards, junior Yarden Garzon and graduate student Chloe Moore-McNeil, time to recover.
In Baylor’s win over the University of Southern Mississippi on Saturday, the Bears recorded 22 second-chance points. Indiana outrebounded Baylor 42-41 and held them to just 8 second-chance points.
“The fact that we were able to outrebound them was huge,” Moren said. “We knew that was going to be the number one key to the game was battling them for rebounds and not allowing them to have second, third shot opportunities.”
Moore-McNeil played an important role in executing Moren’s key to the game as she corralled 10 rebounds for the Hoosiers.
“So, give credit, tons of credit to our players,” Moren said. “Just the resilience, the toughness, that they displayed. Really, really proud of them and happy for them.”
After the game, Moren said that she had no update on Parrish’s left knee injury.
“I don’t think tomorrow is going to be an opportunity for her to get back,” Moren said. “She’s in good spirits, but she’s disappointed because she wants to play with her team tomorrow. But one thing about Syd Parrish: she’s tough and if she could play, she would. If she’s not we’re going to protect her. We still got a lot of season left ahead of us.”
With its win over Baylor, Indiana advanced to the Battle 4 Atlantis championship game and will take on the University of North Carolina. The matchup will take place at noon Monday at Imperial Arena in Nassau, Bahamas, and will be televised 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.
