Looking to bounce back from its road loss to Minnesota on Feb. 9, Indiana women’s basketball took the road again to face Michigan on Wednesday at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
It was a back-and-forth affair between the Hoosiers and the Wolverines, but ultimately, Indiana fell to Michigan 67-70.
The Hoosiers got out to an early 11-4 lead over the Wolverines in the first quarter, but Michigan took advantage of five Indiana turnovers to tie the contest at 15 points at the end of the first quarter.
Indiana racked up six more turnovers in the second quarter alone, but its defensive efforts gave the Hoosiers a 2-point advantage headed into halftime.
After two early fouls from graduate student guard Chloe Moore-McNeil, junior guard Lexus Bargesser stepped in off the bench. She scored 9 points for Indiana in the first quarter along with corralling four rebounds.
The two squads continued to trade baskets back and forth throughout the third quarter. Michigan freshman guard Olivia Olsen’s basket with just under seven minutes remaining in the third quarter put the Wolverines ahead of the Hoosiers for the first time since the beginning of the second quarter.
Indiana went on nearly a four-minute scoring drought in the third quarter but backed it up with an 11-0 run to end the period and regain the lead headed into the final quarter.
The Hoosiers held the lead until just under two minutes left in the game, as Michigan senior guard Jordan Hobbs made a layup to tie the score. Hobbs then made another basket and added a free throw to give the Wolverines a 3-point lead.
But Indiana couldn’t overcome the deficit and fell to Michigan by 3 points.
Michigan found a way defensively to nullify one of Indiana’s strengths — 3-point shooting. The Hoosiers shot just 18.8% from beyond the arc in the contest, even though they entered the matchup shooting 36.3% from long range.
Senior forward Karoline Striplin led all scorers with 28 points and tallied seven rebounds, while graduate student guard Sydney Parrish added 14 points and five rebounds.
Indiana (15-9, 7-6 Big Ten) will return to Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall for its first of two matchups against Purdue (8-15, 1-11 Big Ten) at noon Saturday. The contest will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.
Follow reporters Dalton James (@DaltonMJames) and Savannah Slone (@savrivers06) and columnist Ryan Canfield (@RyanCanfieldOnX) for updates throughout the Indiana women’s basketball season.
