They hadn’t won on their home court in 36 days. Instead, they lost four consecutive games at home with at least 10,000 Hoosier fans backing them.
But that was until Sunday.
Coming off a trip to the West Coast in which it went 1-1, Indiana women’s basketball returned home and earned a dominant 76-60 victory over Nebraska inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
“Last week was a long week for us on the West Coast and you know, we just keep chipping away and trying to grow a little bit, understand our mistakes and get better and improve,” Indiana head coach Teri Moren said postgame. “And so, it was nice to be back in the Hall for us today.”
The Hoosiers led by as many as 7 points in the first quarter and led by 5 after 10 minutes of play. In the second quarter, however, the Cream and Crimson blew the game open.
Thanks to graduate student guard Chloe Moore McNeil’s 3-pointer and junior guard Yarden Garzon’s pair of long balls, Indiana began the second period on a 13-0 run as it led by 18. Nebraska responded with its own spurt, but the Hoosiers still led by double digits at halftime.
Both squads largely traded buckets for much of the third quarter, allowing Indiana to take a 16-point lead into the final quarter. But the final quarter has been a time in which the Hoosiers have struggled over the past two weeks.
Against No. 4 USC on Jan. 19, Indiana held a 4-point lead in the early stage of the fourth quarter. Instead of maintaining their lead and securing a top five victory, the Hoosiers allowed the Trojans to seize control and eventually win by 7 points.
Then, just five days later, Indiana traveled to the West Coast to face off with Oregon. And again, the Hoosiers held the lead for nearly 34 minutes until they allowed the Ducks to pull away late in the fourth quarter.
So, on Sunday, when Indiana held a 16-point lead with 10 minutes to play, graduate student guard Sydney Parrish delivered a message to her teammates.
“Something in the fourth quarter that stuck out to me was when our other captain, Syd, she kind of spoke out and pointed out that in these games, a time like that in the fourth quarter, we need to learn from our past mistakes and be more mature with the ball,” Moore-McNeil said. “And I think we done that today.”
With a grasp on Parrish’s message, the Hoosiers didn’t turn the ball over in the final quarter. Although both squads scored 19 points in the period, Indiana secured the 16-point victory.
Defending Nebraska senior center Alexis Markowski, who entered Sunday averaging 14.7 points per game, was one of Indiana’s keys to securing a win. But the Lincoln, Nebraska, native played just 18 minutes as the Hoosiers held the 6-foot-3 Markowski to 8 points and three rebounds.
“Another terrific post player in our league that we knew that we had to try to force her catches out from the rim,” Moren said. “We wanted to dig, but we wanted to do it in a way that — they're so good from beyond the arc — we didn't want to give up anything, any open threes.”
While the Hoosiers didn’t allow Markowski to establish her presence in the paint, they did allow freshman forward Amiah Hargrave to notch 11 points. Moren said despite the Hoosiers’ success in defending Markowski, the Hoosiers’ post defense “has to get better.”
As Moren wanted, Indiana largely prevented Nebraska from connecting on its shots beyond the arc.
The Cornhuskers entered Sunday with the second-best mark in the Big Ten from 3-point range at 35.2%. However, the Hoosiers limited them to just 27.3% on 3-pointers.
While the Hoosiers’ defense held the Cornhuskers’ offense, Indiana’s offensive attack turned in arguably its most complete performance of the season — something Moore-McNeil agreed with.
Why?
“Just us being locked in on both ends of the court and focusing in on what Nebraska likes, which is their 3-point shooting and keeping them off the line,” Moore-McNeil said. “I think we could have done a better job with not bailing them out, but in terms of the 3, I think we took away their main thing.”
With its dominant victory, Indiana improved to 14-7 overall and 6-4 in Big Ten play with eight games remaining in the regular season.
Now the Hoosiers have four days until they face off with Rutgers at 6 p.m. Thursday inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington. Thursday provides an opportunity for Indiana to notch back-to-back wins at home — something it hasn’t done in almost a month and a half.
Follow reporters Dalton James (@DaltonMJames) and Savannah Slone (@savrivers06) and columnist Ryan Canfield (@RyanCanfieldOnX) for updates throughout the Indiana women’s basketball season.
