A six-point win against Marshall with 28 turnovers; an 18-point win against Western Michigan that head coach Teri Moren described as very, very disappointing; a seven-point win against Eastern Michigan where the Hoosiers were dominated on the glass.
Indiana’s struggles in “tune-up” games this season have been evident. They haven’t lost one but have had results that left many with a sour taste.
Now on a cold December day, four days before Christmas, Indiana had its final nonconference clash against the Western Carolina Catamounts (2-11). Despite previous fits with these games, Indiana (11-2, 0-1) blew out WCU 71-44.
Maybe it was the experience from the close games? Maybe it was the much needed week off for finals week? Maybe it was the opponent that was eight wins below par?
All likely contributed to what went down as one of Indiana’s soundest tune-up performances in its nonconference slate.
Indiana opened the contest with a 22-point first quarter to carry a 22-8 lead into the second where the game started to get out of hand. The Hoosiers opened the second period with a 10-0 run. They held WCU scoreless for nearly the first five minutes of the quarter.
The hot start led the way for a dominant complete game despite the Catamounts outscoring the Hoosiers in the fourth quarter 13-9 as the Hoosiers played mainly reserves for the final minutes.
Shay Ciezki led the way with 17 while playing her fewest minutes of the season. Lenée Beaumont and Phoenix Stotijn added double figure performances as Beaumont would end with 14 and Stotijn would score a season-high 11 points.
The freshman pair of Maya Makalusky and Nevaeh Caffey added 10 and nine points respectively.
For WCU, it was all Ally Hollifield as she would lead the team in points, rebounds and assists with 15 points, seven rebounds, and four assists.
Indiana dominated the stat sheet as they shot 50% from the field and 40% from downtown while forcing 21 turnovers. One low point for Indiana were free throws, the Hoosiers left 10 points at the line, shooting just 57% from the charity stripe.
Another ongoing area the Hoosiers have been fighting to improve upon is on the glass, as the Hoosiers were once again outrebounded 34-30 including 12 offensive boards allowed to WCU.
Indiana was lacking depth in the frontcourt yet again as Zania Socka-Nguemen, who Moren said would be out until Christmas, and Faith Wiseman both missed the contest due to injury.
This game was also the Hoosiers first without Valentyna Kadlecova as the team announced in a statement, following the Eastern Michigan game in which Kadlecova didn’t appear, that Kadlecova would be returning to the Czech Republic to play professional basketball.
As a result, Alabama transfer and Former Indiana Miss Basketball, Chloe Spreen saw a season high 16 minutes as the Hoosiers look to bolster their rotation before conference play.
Indiana once again gets an extended period off before facing Minnesota on Dec. 29th to resume Big Ten play.
