For the first time in 30 years, Indiana women’s basketball hosted a No. 1 ranked opponent inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
The Hoosiers got off to a promising start against the Bruins on Saturday, and after the first quarter, Indiana was down just 2 points to UCLA. A 9-0 run at the end of the first quarter put the Hoosiers in a good position heading into the second quarter of play.
But in the second quarter, the Hoosiers’ offense stalled. It was missed shot after missed shot and turnover after turnover for Indiana. Its first point of the quarter, a free throw by junior guard Yarden Garzon, came just over seven minutes into the quarter, and its first field goal, made by senior forward Karoline Striplin, came with just over two minutes to go in the quarter.
“Shots just didn’t fall,” head coach Teri Moren said postgame. “I thought the second quarter was really, really tough for us, and I think part of it was UCLA. I thought they sped us up, and we had four movement screens inside of that.”
Indiana went 2-for-11 from the field and recorded seven of its 13 turnovers in the second quarter.
“First of all, we knew they’d go on runs, which is fine, but we can’t turn the ball over, have careless mistakes, such as the moving screens,” graduate student guard Chloe Moore-McNeil said. “That just can’t happen in a game like this with a team like that.”
Because of Indiana’s stagnant offense in the second quarter, Moore-McNeil said the Hoosiers shifted their focus to being strong defensively and playing at a fast pace.
But even Moren acknowledged that it was difficult for Indiana to play quickly.
“I thought (UCLA) slowed us down in transition today,” Moren said. “They really tagged us, and they know that’s part of what makes us good is our transition, and playing in space and playing with pace, and I thought they did a good job of really slowing us down, intentionally.”
The Bruins held the Hoosiers to just 5 points in the second quarter and outscored Indiana by 10 points. But as Indiana came out of halftime, trailing by 13 points, it took the court with a sense of urgency.
While Indiana’s defense faltered at times throughout the second half, its offense was able to keep it within reach of UCLA. It outscored UCLA by 1 point in the second half, and although the Hoosier’s efforts weren’t enough to upset the number one team in the country, Moren still found positives in her teams 62-73 defeat to the Bruins.
“I think that every game gives you something that, one, you can improve on and get better at, but also you can look at it and say, ‘Gosh, this was a great shot for us, and it just didn’t go down,’” Moren said. “We did a lot of really good things today, it’s just that some of those open looks just wouldn’t go down for us.”
For Moren, one of those bright spots against UCLA was her team’s effort. UCLA has an average margin of victory of 30 points per game, and the Hoosiers’ effort kept them within 11 points of the Bruins on Saturday.
“We’re disappointed, obviously,” Moren said. “We felt like we had a good game plan for how we were going to go about winning today. Really proud of our group. I thought their effort, always, but today in particular, they were dialed in, was really good.”
Moren also highlighted defensive efforts from the Hoosiers, giving praise to Moore-McNeil and sophomore guard Julianna LaMendola.
“I thought Chloe was terrific against Kiki (Rice),” Moren said. “That’s a big challenge for her and one that she was excited about … I thought Jules came in and did a nice job off the bench, got a couple of charges for us.”
So, even though Indiana struggled to make shots on Saturday, it found other ways to battle through adversity and contend with UCLA, an aspect of its game it will have to continue, especially when it faces two ranked opponents later this month — No. 23 Iowa on Jan. 12 and No. 4 USC on Jan. 19 — and continues its conference schedule.
The Hoosiers (10-4, 2-1 Big Ten) will take on Northwestern (7-7, 0-3 Big Ten) at 8 p.m. Jan. 8 at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Illinois. The matchup between the Hoosiers and the Wildcats will stream on Big Ten+.
Follow reporters Dalton James (@DaltonMJames) and Savannah Slone (@savrivers06) and columnist Ryan Canfield (@RyanCanfieldOnX) for updates throughout the Indiana women’s basketball season.
