COLUMBIA, S.C. — Indiana women’s basketball had already felt what it was like to have its season end at the hands of the University of South Carolina.
So, when the Hoosiers faced off with the Gamecocks on Sunday in the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 in a rematch of last season’s Sweet 16, they emphasized not thinking about last year.
However, the same result followed. The Cream and Crimson’s campaign again ended with a loss to South Carolina –– this time 64-53 inside Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina.
Still, the Hoosiers were proud of their performance.
“I don’t think anybody expected us to be in a game with South Carolina,” graduate student guard Sydney Parrish told the Indiana Daily Student postgame. “They’re an amazingly well-coached, skilled basketball team and so are we.”
In the end, though, the Hoosiers’ — who were 22.5-point underdogs — third-quarter performance prohibited their upset aspirations from coming to fruition. After beginning the quarter with a 1-point lead, Indiana trailed by 11 points after the 10 minutes of play.
In last season’s matchup, the Hoosiers were the team that fell behind in the opening half and clawed their way back. But Sunday, it was South Carolina that fought back and seized control of the game en route to victory.
While the two squads faced off at a neutral venue last season at MVP Arena in Albany, New York, the Gamecocks had home court advantage in this season’s iteration. The 12,322 fans in attendance at Colonial Life Arena on Sunday were rather quiet when the Hoosiers had the advantage in the first half.
However, when South Carolina came to life in the third quarter, the Gamecocks’ fans were energized.
“You guys heard it yourselves; it was very loud out there and it’s basically a sixth man for them,” senior forward Karoline Striplin said. “We tried not to let that affect us, and I felt like we did a very good job of that, but they just capitalized on the little lapses we had.”
Not only has Indiana been matched up with South Carolina in back-to-back seasons, but this season it didn’t have the luxury of staying home to begin March Madness.
Over the past three NCAA Tournaments, Indiana has had homecourt advantage in the first and second rounds. Although it went 5-1 in those games, the Hoosier faithful at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall played a vital role in helping the Hoosiers advance in the tournament.
Indiana head coach Teri Moren spoke during her press conference Thursday about potentially moving the first and second rounds of the tournament to neutral sites, and she further expressed her support for that idea to be implemented in upcoming NCAA Tournaments.
“But going to neutral sites, would that help? The parity is so great right now, does that matter?” Moren asked. “I think it does. I think we've got to get to a point where we sort of mirror what the guys do and have those neutral sites because matchups matter, but home-court advantage matters.”
With all the change the Hoosiers went through in the offseason — losing Mackenzie Holmes and Sara Scalia to graduation and adding junior guard Shay Ciezki and Striplin out of the transfer portal — the up-and-down regular season led them to a matchup like Sunday.
Now, Moren and her coaching staff will look ahead to next season and begin to fill the holes in their roster as the transfer portal opens Monday.
Again, the Hoosiers will lose crucial pieces from their team. Graduate student guard Chloe Moore-McNeil, Parrish and Striplin have all exhausted their eligibility.
As Parrish and Moore-McNeil, who spent five and three seasons in Bloomington, respectively, move on from Indiana, they’ve left a legacy.
Moore-McNeil was on the 2020-21 squad that reached the Elite Eight, the 2022-23 team that won a Big Ten championship and now the team that reached the Round of 32. She’s a rarity in college basketball in the name, image and likeness era where players routinely enter the transfer portal if they don’t earn playing time right away.
“There's a certain standard that we're going to live up to, and from the best player to the player that may not see a lot of time, eventually they will,” Moren said. “You've got to stick with the process. That's why I'm so proud of Chloe. Those Chloes are gone. They're not saying four years. They're not staying five years.”
Although she didn’t play much during her freshman year, Moore-McNeil stayed in Bloomington. She reaped the benefits, turning into a program legend that scored 1,153 total points.
“So, she's somebody that you write about as far as sticking with the process, being loyal,” Moren said. “I think that's real important.”
Parrish arrived in Bloomington after a pair of seasons at Oregon, where she chose to attend out of high school in 2020. Like Moore-McNeil, Parrish turned into a fan-favorite amongst the Hoosier faithful.
“I’m just proud of my teammates for fighting and proud that I was able to come to Indiana and just put on the uniform,” Parrish said, crying. “It’s been a special three years.”
Although Parrish made the Sweet 16 with the Hoosiers and played in March Madness in all three of her seasons in Bloomington, it’s not the games that she’ll remember most. Instead, it’s the moments off the floor with the program and the relationships she’s built.
“I was kind of trying to reflect on it last night — those laughs in practice when someone just trips in the middle of the floor,” Parrish said. “Just like Beau (Lenée Beaumont) can’t get over a screen and she falls all the time and just those little things. You’re going to miss all those laughs and those fun times. It’s a special group to be around, it’s a special university to be around and I’m going to miss it very dearly.”
Striplin spent just one season at Indiana after playing her first three collegiate seasons at the University of Tennessee. However, she started 16 of the Hoosiers’ 33 games and felt at home at Indiana.
“Even though I was only here for one year, I’ve really felt supported by my teammates, the coaching staff, the fans, everybody that’s around us,” Striplin said. “It really felt like home to me, and I feel like I couldn’t have made a better decision on where to come.”
For Moren and her coaching staff, their attention now turns toward improving their roster in the transfer portal, which opens Monday. Guards Maya Makalusky and Nevaeh Caffey will join the Hoosiers from the high school ranks for next season.
For now, Indiana’s season has ended in an all too familiar way — with a loss to the one of the national championship favorites.
Follow reporters Dalton James (@DaltonMJames) and Savannah Slone (@savrivers06) and columnist Ryan Canfield (@RyanCanfieldOnX) for updates throughout the Indiana women’s basketball season.
