Indiana women’s basketball has historically struggled to break Ohio State’s full-court press.
Less than two seasons ago at the 2023 Big Ten Tournament, the Hoosiers led the Buckeyes by 20 points at halftime. Indiana fell because it couldn’t escape Ohio State’s suffocating press, which cost the Hoosiers another game against the Buckeyes last season Feb. 4, 2024, in Columbus, Ohio.
But on Thursday inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana applied lessons learned from its past mistakes against the press en route to a 71-61 victory over Ohio State.
“We knew it was going to take something extra special,” Indiana head coach Teri Moren said postgame. “There's no doubt. But I'm glad that — I’m so happy for our kids because they know that they have it in them, but to see how tonight, especially how they handled themselves against the press.”
From the beginning, the Buckeyes deployed the full-court press.
The Hoosiers broke it on their second possession allowing senior forward Karoline Striplin to earn an easy layup. They broke it again on their third possession. And on their fourth and fifth possessions, too.
“We wanted them to sort of embrace it,” Moren said about her team. “We wanted them to be aggressive against it, and that's how they came out. They were ready to kind of conquer it because they knew that in the past it's been something that has disrupted us.”
Although Indiana still trailed by 1 point after its fifth offensive possession, Ohio State’s lead didn’t last long. Sydney Parrish drained a jumper inside the lane and was fouled, knocking her to the ground.
The graduate student guard sat on the Big Ten logo just inside the charity stripe, pointing her right index finger toward the court to signal the and-one opportunity she earned. Parrish drained the free throw to tie the game at 11.
Then Yarden Garzon, who junior guard Shay Ciezki dubbed Indiana’s “silent killer,” drained a 3-pointer from the right wing to give the Hoosiers a 3-point lead. It was the junior guard’s first bucket of the contest as she went on to score 16 points — tied for the team high.
However, the Buckeyes responded in the second quarter as they opened the period on a 9-0 run, which forced Moren to call a timeout. Out of the 30-second break, the Hoosiers rattled off 8 points and finished the first half on a 14-2 run.
“I don't think we panicked, and I think that showed a lot of growth for us from games in the past,” Parrish said. “We showed a lot of growth today being able to handle the pressure and just showing maturity, and we talked a lot about that in the locker room at halftime that that was good to see from us.”
Unlike what they did against then-No. 1 UCLA on Jan. 4 and then-No. 4 USC on Jan. 19, the Hoosiers didn’t panic when the Buckeyes pulled even. Instead, they extended their lead to 18 at the end of the third quarter.
But the Buckeyes didn’t quit. Instead, their defense presented challenges for the Hoosiers in the final quarter.
Indiana notched 10 turnovers in the fourth period, which took its game total to 21. However, whenever Ohio State threatened, the Hoosiers responded. Garzon delivered the dagger with her top-of-the-key 3-pointer with just under two minutes remaining to secure the Hoosiers’ 10-point victory –– one that may well very secure its berth into the NCAA Tournament.
“As we go down the stretch here, everything is about urgency,” Moren said. “... I don't know if it's an advantage but going and playing against a team like Ohio State that does press, we know that Michigan State's going to — that's how they play as well.”
While Moren may not view Thursday’s experience as necessarily an advantage heading into Sunday’s matchup with Michigan State, she said it did give her squad confidence they could break a historically suffocating press.
The Hoosiers, who lost their last two road games, will now head to the Breslin Center in East Lansing, Michigan, for a 2 p.m. Sunday contest with No. 22 Michigan State, a team Indiana narrowly defeated last season at home.
Although the victory over the Buckeyes is certainly a resume-boosting one, there’s still plenty at stake in the final three regular season games. Moren is not worried about whether her team understands that or not — she expects it.
“They're old, they're veteran, they're experienced,” Moren said. “I got to trust that they know what's at stake, and then I have to put it in their hands... what our job is is to give them the best scouting report, the strategy, that we think will put us in a position to be successful, and then they got to go out and execute it.”
Thursday could be the start of a momentum-building run toward the NCAA Tournament. But Indiana’s performances Sunday against Michigan State and Feb. 24 against No. 21 Maryland will prove whether that’s the case.
Follow reporters Dalton James (@DaltonMJames) and Savannah Slone (@savrivers06) and columnist Ryan Canfield (@RyanCanfieldOnX) for updates throughout the Indiana women’s basketball season.
