EVANSTON, Ill. — Coming off its fourth loss of the season, Indiana women’s basketball traveled to take on Northwestern as it looked to bounce back from an 11-point loss to No. 1 UCLA on Jan. 4.
The Hoosiers did so as they defeated the Wildcats 68-64 on Wednesday inside Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Illinois. The Cream and Crimson now sit at 11-4 overall and 3-1 in Big Ten play.
The two squads began the contest a combined 0 for 7 until the Wildcats drained a 3-pointer. Despite their somewhat slow start, the Hoosiers regained the lead via graduate student guard Sydney Parrish’s 3-pointer to cap a 5-0 run.
Indiana went on a 10-2 run over the last four minutes of the opening quarter to take a 9-point lead after 10 minutes.
However, Northwestern began the second quarter on an 8-0 run to pull within 1. The Hoosiers scored just 11 points in the period and went 38% from the field in the opening half as they led 31-26 at halftime.
With the Wildcats looking to close the gap out of halftime, they pulled to within 1 before tying the contest. But the Hoosiers managed to jump back out to a 5-point lead at the end of the quarter as Parrish drained another long ball at the buzzer.
Both squads traded buckets of much of the final quarter until Northwestern went on a 6-0 run to take a 1-point lead with less than a minute and a half remaining.
With its second road loss of the season on the horizon, Indiana junior guard Shay Ciezki sank her third 3-pointer of the contest to give the Hoosiers a 2-point advantage.
When the Wildcats trimmed their deficit to 1 with a free throw, Ciezki again came up clutch for the Cream and Crimson as she dished an assist to junior forward Lilly Meister. Now with a 3-point lead, the Hoosiers drained their free throws at the end of the contest to secure the victory.
Ciezki led all scorers with 20 points alongside five assists. Senior forward Karoline Striplin chipped in 13 points while Parrish added 12.
Indiana (11-4, 3-1 Big Ten) will travel to Iowa City, Iowa, to face off against No. 24 Iowa at 3 p.m. Jan 12 inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. 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.
