After squeaking by Northwestern to capture its third conference victory of the season, Indiana women’s basketball traveled to face off with No. 23 Iowa on Sunday.
Over the past two seasons, the Hoosiers fell to the Hawkeyes via Caitlin Clark’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer in the final game of the 2022-23 regular season. Then, on Jan. 13, 2024, Iowa throttled Indiana by 27 points.
Now meeting for the lone time this regular season, the Hoosiers exited Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa, with a 74-67 victory over the Hawkeyes. The Cream and Crimson now sit at 12-4 overall and 4-1 in Big Ten play.
Indiana began the contest with 6 consecutive points to take an early lead, but Iowa responded and cut its deficit to just 1. Junior guard Yarden Garzon drilled back-to-back 3-pointers as the Hoosiers led by as many as 7 in the opening period before entering the second quarter up by 2.
After trading baskets in the opening stages of the period, Indiana went on a 7-0 spurt to take a 10-point lead. Iowa senior guard Lucy Olsen brought the run to a halt with a layup, but the Hoosiers followed with another 7-0 run as they led by 15.
Over the final three and a half minutes of the first half, Iowa outscored Indiana 11-2 as the latter led by just 6 at halftime. Graduate student guard Chloe Moore-McNeil and Garzon each notched 11 points in the half.
The Hoosiers led by 10 after the third quarter, thanks in large part to graduate student guard Sydney Parrish’s three 3-pointers in the period.
With the Hawkeyes looking to cut into their deficit with just 10 minutes left, the final quarter was rather low scoring until Iowa went on an 8-0 run to pull within 4 with just under two minutes remaining.
In response, Moore-McNeil made four free throws and Striplin notched a pair of layups over the final minute and a half to secure a 7-point victory.
Garzon led all scorers with 21 points as she went a perfect 5 for 5 from beyond the arc alongside five rebounds. Moore-McNeil added 18 points while Parrish scored 15.
Indiana (12-4, 4-1 Big Ten) returns to Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall to take on Illinois (12-4, 2-3 Big Ten) at 7 p.m. Thursday. The matchup will stream on Peacock.
Follow reporters Dalton James (@DaltonMJames) and Savannah Slone (@savrivers06) and columnist Ryan Canfield (@RyanCanfieldOnX) for updates throughout the Indiana women’s basketball season.
