WEST LAFAYETTE — With 1:28 to go Sunday, Purdue fifth-year guard Abbey Ellis missed a jumper that Indiana graduate student forward Mackenzie Holmes rebounded. The ball made its way across the court to Indiana sophomore guard Lexus Bargesser on the left side of the wing.
Bargesser swung the rock to senior guard Sara Scalia at the top of the key, who drilled a 3 at 1:10 to ice the game 74-64 with less than a minute to go.
For the 10th time in a row, No. 16-ranked Indiana women’s basketball defeated Purdue 74-68 on Sunday at Mackey Arena and has brought the Barn Burner Trophy back to Bloomington.
“Well, I thought that was a fabulous game,” Indiana head coach Teri Moren said. “They [Indiana] shot it very well from the 3-point line but also executed well.”
Despite losing senior guard Sydney Parrish to an injury during practice on Friday, Indiana shot 15-for-23 (65%) from outside the arc as a team, the most they have made on the road all season. Parrish will be reevaluated by doctors on Monday, per Moren.
Four of Indiana’s starters ended up with double-digit points, led by both Scalia and senior guard Chloe Moore-McNeil each having 20 points. That was a career-high for Moore-McNeil, who accompanied her scoring with four assists and three rebounds while Scalia had three assists and four rebounds.
Indiana sophomore guard Yarden Garzon had a great game with 17 points led by five triples and four steals against Purdue.
Holmes made history in West Lafyette as she became the sixth Hoosier in program history to notch 900 career rebounds. She had 15 points and six rebounds while shooting 6-for-7 from the field.
Both offenses started off hot in the first quarter, as the Hoosiers shot 5-for-6 from 3-point range led by Scalia going a perfect 2-for-2 there. Moore-McNeil made her only attempt and Garzon went 2-for-3.
As for the Boilermakers, they went 3-for-4 with senior guard Madison Layden also going 2-for-2 in that category. The Boilermakers’ rebounding made the difference as they dominated that category 11-1 to lead 29-22.
“Well, 29 points is kind of crazy for us to score in the first,” Purdue head coach Katie Gearlds said. “Credit Indiana, they never looked rattled.”
The second quarter rolled around and the Hoosiers cleaned up their rebounding problem by obtaining 12 more to make up for the lackluster effort in the first. An 11-1 Purdue rebounding win in the first turned into 18-13 at the end of the half.
The Hoosiers found an offensive groove shooting 66.7% from the field in the second quarter. Scalia knocked down two of the four 3s made. Indiana outscored Purdue 17-8 but had six turnovers in the first half which only resulted in a 39-37 lead.
Indiana became stagnant on offense, only scoring 12 in the third quarter led by Moore-McNeil's seven. Purdue dropped 17 led by first-year guard Rashunda Jones and sixth-year guard Caitlyn Harper each getting five.
As time began to expire Jones went coast-to-coast to cut the lead down to two and then hit a 30-foot buzzer beater to give her team the 54-51 lead entering the fourth quarter.
Indiana’s fourth-quarter magic started to come through as it shot 8-for-10 from the field and 5-for-6 from outside. Holmes drilled her first 3-point attempt of the season to give the Hoosiers a 59-56 lead.
Purdue would not go down without a fight as it shot 6-for-16 from the field in the final frame. Despite the fight, leaving open 3-point looks from Moore-McNeil and Scalia in crucial moments proved to be costly at the end and Indiana would go on to win the game.
“I am just really proud of our group,” Moren said. “We got down, we got up, we got down, we got up and found a way to win and I'm just really proud of my guys.”
Indiana heads back to Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall with a 16-2 overall record and 7-1 in the Big Ten for a game against Northwestern. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. this Sunday.
