Amid three turnovers on its first four possessions, Indiana women’s basketball got off to a stellar start at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday.
Six-minutes and 15 seconds into the first quarter, junior guard Yarden Garzon called for a pass from graduate student guard Chloe Moore-McNeil on the left wing near the Iowa bench. Garzon gathered, shot, drained and stared down the Hawkeye players and staff. The Ra’anana, Israel, native seemed to know it was going to be a good day.
Indiana was fresh off a gritty win over Northwestern in Evanston, Illinois, on Jan. 8. The Hoosiers just scraped by, 68-64, at Welsh-Ryan Arena. An easily winnable game from a pound-for-pound roster perspective turned into a get in and get out kind of game. The Hoosiers did that. Now Indiana had its first true road test in a daunting environment.
Carver-Hawkeye Arena is one that has seen some amazing basketball and attracted sellout crowds. The Caitlin Clark effect has not worn off yet for the folks in Iowa City, Iowa.
Garzon had an extremely efficient day with 21 points, and didn't miss from 3-point range, with five makes. Every time Indiana needed a clutch shot down the stretch, Garzon was there, making back-to-back field goals to start the fourth quarter and a pair of clutch free throws down the stretch to cushion the Hoosiers’ lead during the late push from the Hawkeyes.
“I just remember last year here, and I didn’t want it to happen again,” Garzon said postgame. “I gave them a look to know that we are here, and we are here to win the game,”
It’s been heard time and again. Indiana head coach Teri Moren always seems to have something positive to say about Garzon. Before the season, she minted her a pro-level college player.
But it wasn’t just Garzon hitting shots. Graduate student guard Sydney Parrish and junior guard Shay Ciezki also answered the bell when the Hoosiers needed them the most. The Hoosier deep threats combined for 21 points.
The most encouraging part of this performance was graduate student guard Chloe Moore-McNeil, who averaged 8.9 points per game entering Sunday, finishing with 18 points.
Moore-McNeil isn’t Indiana’s most reliable scorer, but a proven focal point of the team, providing the second gear it has desperately needed when others aren’t scoring.
“She’s our leader,” Moren said. “She and Syd (Parrish) were more determined today to come in here and not go home without a win.”
Indiana is now 12-4 overall and 4-1 in conference play and in the upper half of the Big Ten standings.
Indiana has everything in front of it, but it will play its toughest four-game stretch of the season. The Hoosiers have a pair of home games against previously ranked Illinois and No. 4 USC before they go out to the West Coast to play Oregon and Washington.
With the Hoosiers’ current form and momentum, the hall will play an integral role in IU’s success in those home matchups.
Indiana showed it can hit shots in a tough environment and has reinforcements when its forwards aren’t at the forefront.
The formula for this team to be good has been spoken, theorized and blueprinted, the Hoosiers just needed to put it all together.
The formula reading: consistent scoring and complimentary hard nose defense.
The Hoosiers will be back in action at 7 p.m. Thursday when they take on Illinois at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington.
Follow reporters Dalton James (@DaltonMJames) and Savannah Slone (@savrivers06) and columnist Ryan Canfield (@RyanCanfieldOnX) for updates throughout the Indiana women’s basketball season.
