Four straight defeats. Winless in their first five conference games.
Indiana desperately needed a response as the 14th ranked Iowa Hawkeyes came into town. For the first two quarters they looked the part.
The last two? Not so much.
For most of the night, Indiana had control in dominant fashion but the ranked Hawkeyes scraped out the win 56-53. The loss drops Indiana to 11-7 and 0-6 in Big Ten play.
It was a complete flip of the switch on the dominant first half the Hoosiers had over the Hawkeyes. Indiana held a 35-19 lead at the break as Shay Ciezki matched Iowa’s tally on her own.
Neither team shot the 3 well, shooting a combined 1-for-16 from downtown in the first half. The first made 3-pointer came nearly 16 minutes into the game.
The 3-point struggle was the main theme that carried over in the tale of two halves as Iowa finished 4-for-16 and Indiana finished 2-for-19 from behind the arc.
Everything except for 3-pointers not falling was going Indiana’s way, even winning the first half rebounding battle where the Hoosiers ranked dead last in the conference coming into the matchup.
Once again it was the third quarter where the wheels fell off for the Hoosiers. It was a four-point period for IU as the Hawkeyes capitalized on a seven-plus minute scoring drought for Indiana en route to a 17-0 run. This marks the fifth time in conference play where the Hoosiers have lost the 3rd quarter and it's the third time in Big Ten play that they have scored single digits in the period.
The key for the Hawkeyes was finally slowing down Ciezki, holding her to just two points in the second half.
Ciezki took to the press room table with teary, red eyes.
“I wish I could give you exact reasons but sometimes you’re on and sometimes you’re off,” Ciezki said in response to the team’s struggles from 3. “The second half is on me for sure.”
Ciezki did it all for IU in the first and as Iowa made adjustments Indiana struggled to get makes as only one other Hoosier would end in double figures as Zania Socka-Nguemen ended with 12. The other starters — Nevaeh Caffey, Maya Makalusky and Lenée Beaumont — shot a combined 21% and scored seven, zero and five points respectively.
Coach Teri Moren was quick to take the blame as she took the stand.
“I gotta do a better job. I did not help them in the third, you know, in terms of trying to get us better looks,” Moren said in response to their offensive struggles. “We all again tried to press a little bit and try to hunt down our own shot which was a problem. We have to stay disciplined in those moments.”
The loss will go down as a heartbreaker for a team desperate to finally get off the starting blocks in the Big Ten as the Hoosiers find themselves joint bottom in the league.
Indiana has a quick turnaround playing at home against Washington on Wednesday before getting a week off before traveling to Ohio State and Purdue.
