After suffering its first Big Ten loss of the season to then No. 3-ranked Iowa, No. 16 Indiana women’s basketball defeated Minnesota 85-62 on Wednesday night at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
"I was more frustrated, yes, with the loss, but I just thought we underperformed,” head coach Teri Moren said about the loss to Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. “We looked disconnected. I thought, at times, we looked uninspired. We didn't build our program on those things."
The film session after that game was clearly taken to heart and the Hoosiers looked more like a connected team than they did against Iowa. They shot 58.6% from the field and 45.8% from outside of the arc.
The Hoosiers outscored the Golden Gophers in the paint 44-24 throughout the game. They also capitalized on the fast break with 18 points compared to the Golden Gophers’ six.
The Hoosiers’ defense locked up most of the Gophers on court as well. Sophomore guard Mara Braun, who averaged 19 points per game coming into this contest, was held scoreless in the first half before heating up in the second to drop 14.
Minnesota freshman guard/forward Grace Grocholski led Minnesota in scoring with 19 points and four rebounds. Sophomore forward Mallory Heyer had six rebounds with three points and Amaya Battle led the assists category five alongside 13 points and five rebounds.
Indiana graduate student forward Mackenzie Holmes had 32 points while shooting 15-for-17 from the field.
Indiana senior guard Sara Scalia, who played at Minnesota for three seasons, had herself a night against her former team. She scored 22 points with five 3-pointers and went 8-for-17 from the field.
“Minnesota is always going to be home to me, it’s where I grew up,” Scalia said. “I was just happy to play for the team I’m on now and come out with the win.”
In the first quarter, Indiana got its offense to a good start. Holmes notched 11 points while going 5-for-6 from the field. Senior guard Sydney Parrish scored nine points with 3-for-4 from outside and the field. Scalia struggled early going 1-for-3 outside and 1-for-4 from the field.
However, the 3-point defense struggled early as Minnesota shot a perfect 4-for-4 from outside the arc with four players each sinking a shot to keep the game close at the end of the first 23-18.
Coming into the second quarter, Grocholski sank another 3-pointer to go 5-for-5 from the arc before ending the perfect streak with a missed outside shot. The team that went 7-for-13 from the field during the first quarter went cold as they went 4-for-12 in the second.
Indiana retaliated through Holmes who went a perfect 3-for-3 from the field and had six points to her name. Scalia found her rhythm in the frame and went 3-for-5 from outside the arc and 5-for-7 from the field to score 14 and propel Indiana to a 47-29 lead at half.
At the end of the half, Indiana had 24 points in the paint compared to Minnesota’s 10. Indiana also had 17 points off turnovers compared to Minnesota’s five.
During the third quarter, Holmes went 4-for-5 from the field to get eight points and lead the scoring for both teams. Quality pick-and-roll runs and cuts ran by Indiana allowed for a 64-47 lead to end the frame.
In the final quarter, Indiana once again found its rhythm. Holmes had seven points and six other players registered points to cap off a 7-0 run in the last 1:21 of the game. Twenty points in the paint during the second half allowed Indiana to finish the game as the victors.
“This is a really good basketball team when they're connected,” Moren said, “when they're playing fast, when they're sharing the ball, when they're intentional about what their assignments are defensively.”
Indiana heads on the road to in-state rival Purdue for its next game. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. on Sunday at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette.
