After a two-game trip to the West Coast, Indiana women’s basketball will return to Bloomington to take on Nebraska on Sunday.
The Hoosiers are coming off a 73-70 win over Washington on Jan. 27. Junior guard Yarden Garzon scored a career-high 35 points, shooting 13 for 18 from the field and 8 for 10 from beyond the arc. Graduate student guard Sydney Parrish added another 16 points for Indiana on 6-for-10 shooting and 4 for 6 from 3-point range.
Garzon career-best performance came after a three-game drought for Garzon and Indiana. She scored just 3 points against Illinois on Jan. 16 and shot 17.6% and 28.6% against USC on Jan. 19 and Oregon on Jan. 21, respectively — all three of which the Hoosiers lost.
The stretch proved Garzon making shots is crucial for Indiana, especially as the Hoosiers’ leading scorer. After their win over the Huskies, head coach Teri Moren said even with Garzon’s struggles, she was going to continue to run plays through her as a bid of confidence from her and the rest of the coaching staff.
Now, on the back of a road win, Indiana can look to build momentum heading into February in front of its home crowd in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall against the Cornhuskers.
“We are trying to stay with good energy,” Garzon said after defeating Washington. “We know this is the only thing that will let us go forward from here. So, we are trying to keep energy high and be very, very specific in what we are doing. And show up every day and try to get better every day.”
But keeping that energy will be a difficult test against Nebraska. The Cornhuskers are in their ninth season under head coach Amy Williams and sit at 16-5 overall and 7-3 in Big Ten games this season. Nebraska is coming off a 6-point win over Purdue on Thursday.
Senior center Alexis Markowski poses a threat for Indiana. Markowski leads the way for Nebraska averaging 14.7 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. The strong presence on the inside will be a test for senior forward Karoline Striplin and junior forward Lilly Meister.
Striplin has started the last three games over Meister. Moren removed Meister from the starting lineup after Meister scored just 1 point against Illinois and named Striplin the starting forward against No. 4 USC.
Indiana has struggled to contain other dominant post players this season. UCLA junior forward Lauren Betts scored 25 points and corralled 12 rebounds against Indiana on Jan. 4, while Illinois fifth-year forward Kendall Bostic recorded 21 points and eight rebounds against the Hoosiers.
Being able to make stops and score in the paint will be crucial for Indiana if it wants to continue to build momentum.
But Markowski isn’t the only scoring threat Nebraska presents. Britt Prince averages 13.8 points per game. The freshman guard is coming off one of her best colligate performances against Purdue where she scored 23 points and shot 46.7% from the field, which marked her fifth 20-point game of the season.
Indiana controls the series between Indiana and Nebraska with a record of 12-6. In last season’s matchup, the Hoosiers dominated the Cornhuskers 91-69. While Markowski scored 21 points, Indiana had four scorers in double figures and Parrish set her career record at Indiana with six 3-pointers in the game.
Tipoff between the Hoosiers and the Cornhuskers is slated for noon Sunday inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The contest will be broadcast on FS1.
Follow reporters Dalton James (@DaltonMJames) and Savannah Slone (@savrivers06) and columnist Ryan Canfield (@RyanCanfieldOnX) for updates throughout the Indiana women’s basketball season.
