Indiana women’s basketball will begin its two-game road stint when it travels to Minneapolis to take on Minnesota on Sunday.
The Hoosiers enter on a three-game winning streak, which started on the road Jan. 27 with a 3-point victory at Washington and continued when they returned to Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall and grabbed two more wins over Nebraska on Feb. 2 and Rutgers on Thursday.
Indiana put on a 3-point shooting clinic against Rutgers on Thursday. It hit a season-high 15 3 pointers — 10 of which came in the third quarter alone — which marked the second-highest amount in a single game in program history. Junior guard Shay Ciezki and graduate student guards Sydney Parrish and Chloe Moore-McNeil each hit four 3-pointers. The Hoosiers shot 53.6% from long range.
Parrish’s four baskets from beyond the arc were a part of her 22-point performance against the Scarlet Knights, which marked her eighth-straight game in double figures.
While Indiana head coach Teri Moren hopes her team’s confidence grows from their 3-point shooting performance, she understands that the Hoosiers won’t be able to win without a strong defense on the road.
“So, I hope like crazy that they're gaining confidence, because as we go down this stretch here, we're going to need to shoot it with confidence and play with confidence,” Moren said postgame Thursday. “But also, as we go on the road here, our defense has got to travel because it's been pretty good to us as well."
Unlike Rutgers, whose offense is predominately led by freshman guard Kiyomi McMiller and senior guard Destiny Adams, Minnesota poses the threat of a more balanced scoring attack.
Junior guard Amaya Battle and sophomore guard Grace Grocholski lead the Golden Gophers in scoring, averaging 11.6 points per game, while freshman guard Tori McKinney and graduate student forward Annika Stewart each add just over 10 points per game. Three more players contribute just over 8 points per game.
While Indiana is on a three-game winning streak, Minnesota is coming off its third straight loss. The stretch included road losses to then-No. 4 USC and No.1 UCLA and a home loss to Iowa.
Even though four Golden Gophers scored in double figures Thursday against Iowa, they couldn’t find their footing after getting down early in the first quarter to the Hawkeyes, who won the contest 68-60.
Minnesota is in its second season with head coach Dawn Plitzuweit at the helm. In her first season in Minneapolis, Plitzuweit went 20-16 overall and 5-13 in Big Ten games, and took the Golden Gophers to a runner-up finish in the WNIT. Now in her second season, Plitzuweit has led Minnesota to an 18-6 record and has already topped her number of 2023-24 conference wins as Minnesota sits at 6-6 in conference contests.
Even with the postseason upcoming in just under a month and a tough stretch of games looming for the Hoosiers, Parrish said it’s important for Indiana to take the end of the season one game at a time, especially in the Big Ten, where the bottom teams could beat the top teams in any given game.
“It’s hard not to look at the Big Ten standings and going into the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament,” Parrish said. “But if we just go game by game, we’re going to control our own destiny and we’re going to be fine.”
Tipoff between the Hoosiers and the Golden Gophers is slated for 3 p.m. Sunday at Williams Arena in Minneapolis. The contest 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.
