Riding a six-game winning streak — its largest of the season — Indiana women’s basketball awaited its first ranked conference test Saturday in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, facing No. 1 UCLA.
After a rough start in the first couple months of the season, Indiana entered the contest looking much better than its October and November form, when it accrued three losses to Harvard University, Butler University and University of North Carolina.
The Hoosiers were sharing the ball more effectively, knocking down more 3-pointers and limiting turnovers during said streak, three areas where regrouping and manufactured improvement was needed. If there was a time for Indiana to play the No. 1 team in the nation, it was heading into Saturday.
But after it was all said and done, UCLA walked out of Assembly Hall the victors, 73-62.
Its not very often that you host the No. 1 team in the nation. The pregame hype translated to Branch McCracken Court on the January afternoon. That hype is what makes UCLA so good. The Bruins’ size and error-free play was the main driver in the contest.
It started and ended with Bruins junior center Lauren Betts. No. 51 in blue has been fantastic for UCLA this year. Entering Saturday, she averaged 19.3 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. She ranked third and fourth in the Big Ten in those respective categories.
Five inches taller than the two featured Hoosier bigs, junior Lilly Meister and senior Karoline Striplin, who both stand at 6-foot-3, Betts had a plethora of advantages Saturday: scoring, rebounding, positioning and even officiating.
Betts finished with 25 points on 12-of-16 shooting and 12 rebounds against the Hoosiers, proving size wins. It just does.
Regardless of a player's ability to make shots, if a player has a decent size advantage down low, a team will set its offensive focal point on that player. Look at former college players like Louisiana State University’s Angel Reese, University of South Carolina’s Kamillia Cardoso and Stanford University’s Cameron Brink. For two of those players, Indiana had to create a game plan in its 2023-24 campaign. These players have the positive end of size advantages, thus their high production in college and high draft selections in the pros.
Betts was no different, and head coach Teri Moren knew that coming in.
“(Meister and Striplin) did everything they could,” Moren said postgame.
The threat of Betts alone got Indiana in foul trouble. That caused graduate student guard Sydney Parrish to not see much time in the first half, foul out and only play 27 minutes. Striplin also fouled out.
Moren said that the game plan for Betts was to try to push her out of the low block and crowd her.
Outside of Betts, Indiana did a fine job, with the Bruins next leading scorer, junior guard Kiki Rice, dropping just 12 points.
The Hoosiers did a lot of things well, but a couple of things could have been better.
It's worth mentioning junior guard Yarden Garzon, who led IU in scoring with 19 points. While Garzon was the leading scorer, she missed 10 shots from the floor and was 1 for 8 from beyond the arc.
As a team, Indiana was 4 for 21 from 3-point range. If a handful more go in, Indiana would have seen a one possession game — or even a win.
The Hoosiers could have quit as they were down by as much as 16 in the second half, but they battled and got it under 10 in the fourth quarter.
With five of the top 10 scorers in the conference being over 6-foot-3 (one inch taller than Meister and Striplin) and plenty more effective double-digit scorers behind, Indiana needs to be ready if it wants to beat some good teams this season.
What Indiana will need to do if it wants success against teams with effective and tall bigs is come up with good game plans that neutralize the fours and fives, potentially double teaming down low. If that happens, Indiana will need to figure out how to prevent open shots.
“(There are) many fives of that size that we are going to have to be able to guard,” Moren said.
After Indiana takes on Northwestern on Jan. 8, the Hoosiers will play Iowa on Jan. 12 in Iowa City, the next matchup where they will have to weather a storm like this. Two 13-point averaging bigs will be waiting in junior Hannah Stuelke and senior Addison O’Grady.
Follow reporters Dalton James (@DaltonMJames) and Savannah Slone (@savrivers06) and columnist Ryan Canfield (@RyanCanfieldOnX) for updates throughout the Indiana women’s basketball season.
