Indiana women's basketball avoids upset in return home for Mackenzie Holmes

Maine gave the Indiana women’s basketball team all it could handle on Thursday night in what coach Teri Moren described as a "slug fest."

The Hoosiers traveled to Maine to give senior forward Mackenzie Holmes an opportunity to play in front of her hometown fans at the Cross Insurance Arena in front of a crowd of 5,983.

Holmes led her team with 22 points (9 of 11 shooting) and scored a key basket in the final minutes of a 67-59 win.

More: Maine came out to celebrate one of its own, and Mackenzie Holmes put on a show.

After Maine hit a 3-pointer to cut Indiana’s lead to five points with 1:51 to go, the Hoosiers dropped the ball into the paint for Holmes. She backed down the defending America East Player of the Year Adrianna Smith and dropped in a lay up high off the glass while drawing the foul.

"Extremely grateful we had this opportunity," Holmes said, after the game. "This was a great environment for women's basketball and just to be able to come back here and play probably my last game ever at Cross Insurance Arena is just incredible."

Holmes felt the weight of the moment, but she credited Moren's pep talk in the locker room before the game for taking some of the pressure off.

"She stopped me before the game and told me to take a deep breath and let the game come to me," Holmes said.

Maine spent much of the game in the lead. Indiana got off to a slow start offensive — it shot 34% in the first half and was 3 of 12 from 3-point range — while Black Bears starting guard Anne Simon had a career-night with 34 points.

She gave Maine a lead at the buzzer in the first quarter and the Hoosiers trailed until Sydney Parrish’s 3-point play at the baseline put IU up 57-54 with and kicked off an 8-0 run.

"Tonight was for Mackenzie," Parrish said.

Parrish’s hot hand in the second half made the difference. She had 10 points in the third quarter after being shutout in the first 30 minutes. She was IU's most active player coming out of halftime with four rebounds (two offensive) and a steal in the quarter as well.

"She's always super positive," Moren said, of Parrish. "Syd's body language always stays the same, always pouring into her teammates at timeouts. I didn't say anything to her, I just think she knew we had to collectively, all of them, had to step up."

Moren was proud of how her team was able to grind out a win, but remains frustrated on the lack of defensive focus.

That contributed to Simon putting up points in bunches, she surpassed her career-high (28) with a pair of free throws to close out the third quarter. The fifth-year senior let out a primal scream when she dropped in a floater after colliding with Holmes and in the paint and drawing a foul to break a 52-52 tie with 6:40 to go.

“I think we would all agree, she was terrific,” Moren said. “She gained confidence and felt no one could guard her, and in the first half no one could guard her…give her credit, she had a night she should be proud of.”

Maine also got key contributions from Smith, who went toe-to-toe with Holmes for much of the night. She had a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds.

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's basketball avoids upset in road win over Maine