Balanced Indiana women’s basketball shows impressive poise in road win over Nebraska
Nebraska tried to stack the deck against Indiana women’s basketball on Sunday afternoon.
The team had a season-high 9,000-plus fans in attendance as the program honored the 2014 Big Ten Championship team at halftime and retired All-American Jordan Hooper’s No. 35 jersey. Hooper was the conference player of the year that season.
Indiana (13-1; 4-0 Big Ten) took the hostile road environment in stride in a 91-69 win against a Cornhuskers team that had won 7 of 8 and was 3-0 in Big Ten play.
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The Hoosiers led for all but 56 seconds on Sunday as they won their 12th straight game (three shy of the program record).
“By now we are used to the environment,” Indiana coach Teri Moren said. “We are used to people being in the stands because of being in Simon-Scott (Assembly Hall) and playing in front of 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 a night. We are used to the energy in the building even though there were not many Hoosiers in here today.”
Indiana women’s basketball took control right ‘from the jump’
They were locked in from the start with Sydney Parrish setting the tone for a second straight game from 3-point range. She was 4 for 4 in the first quarter as IU went on to set a program record on the road with 14 3-pointers while shooting a season-high 60.9%.
Parrish ended up with 20 points (she finished 6 of 7 from 3-point range) and Mackenzie Holmes led the team with 22 points.
“I thought we looked really together today, and tough from the jump,” Moren said.
Nebraska’s comeback attempt goes nowhere
There actually came a moment in the second half when Nebraska tried to make it a game. The Cornhuskers cut IU’s lead to under 10 points twice late in the third quarter to get the crowd on its feet.
The good vibes at Pinnacle Bank Arena were short-lived with Hoosiers guards Lexus Bargesser and Sara Scalia stopping a potential rally before it started with quick baskets. Bargesser drove to the lane for a layup while Scalia dropped in a contested 3-pointer.
“They knew that one of the things we had to do was keep the crowd out of it today, and we are a veteran team, we have a mature team, you always revert back to that,” Moren said.
Indiana closed out the quarter on a 14-1 run — it didn’t allow a field goal in the final 3:49 — and Holmes took over in the paint with Alexis Markowski (four fouls) on the bench. Holmes had 11 points in the third quarter.
By the time the buzzer sounded in the third, Indiana had its largest lead of the game at 69-49 and fans started trickling out to their cars.
“One of the things about this group is that they stay in the moment,” Moren said.
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Indiana women quiets crowd, stays poised in road win over Nebraska
