Indiana women's basketball gets strong defensive effort in win over Stetson
BLOOMINGTON — Indiana women's basketball coach Teri Moren's frustration with her team's defense has been a reoccurring theme this season.
The Hoosiers' 72-34 win over Stetson on Sunday at Assembly Hall should ease some of that disappointment.
Stetson shot 19% (12 of 62) from the field — 3 of 24 from 3-point range — and didn't score any points on the fast break. It was the first time since a 87-24 win over Morehead State Dec. 18, 2022 that IU held an opponent to less than 40 points.
There was no drop-off from the Hoosiers bench when the remaining starters checked out with 6:01 to left in the game. Stetson didn't score a field goal in the final 5:38 and turned it over four times.
"After the Maine game, we knew on the defensive side that we needed to improve," Indiana forward Sydney Parrish said. "We knew they were really athletic drivers, we made it a point before the game that we needed to be in our gaps and get stops early. I think we did a really good job with that, we pushed it really hard and I think our stops led to offensive runouts."
Stetson couldn't even cut into IU's double-digit advantage when it opened the third quarter by launching some wild 3-point shots. The Hoosiers were 0 for 9 coming out of halftime (0 for 6 from 3-point range), but the Hatters weren’t much better going 2 of 12 (0 for 4).
“At the first media timeout, we talked a lot about what a good shot looks like for us,” Moren said. "Little bit frustrated by that."
Indiana starting guard Yarden Garzon ended the drought with a floater in front of the rim with 3:50 to go in the third. She followed that up with a 3-pointer from the top of the key that righted IU's offense for good.
The fans attending Sunday’s game in the student section wore “I stand with Yarden” t-shirts in support of Israel and the Ra’anana, Israel native. Garzon, who wore an Israeli flag around her shoulders at Hoosier Hysteria, spoke earlier this season about the country’s conflict with Hamas and advocated for the safe returns of Israeli hostages.
"I'm trying to do whatever I can on this stage," Garzon said.
IU Hillel, an organization dedicated to celebrating Jewish life on campus, organized the “blue out.”
She scored a layup on the baseline with an acrobatic up and under move on the baseline right in front of the section. The moment drew thunderous applause as did her coast-to-coast fastbreak layup in the final seconds of the half.
Garzon had 14 points, two rebounds and four assists.
Stetson’s slow-paced style played right into Indiana’s hands early in the game as it shot 69% (9 of 13) during the first quarter to take a 24-9 lead. The Hoosiers got back-to-back 3-pointers from Chloe Moore-McNeil and Garzon during a 17-2 run over the final 6:02 of the quarter.
The run started with star forward Mackenzie Holmes on the bench after she took a hard foul in the early going. She didn't appear to be shaken up on the play — she averaged 36.5 minutes in IU's last two games — but was replaced by Lilly Meister.
Meister stayed on the court until she was called for an offensive foul away from the ball with 2:55 to go. Holmes still led the Hoosiers with 17 points (7 of 9) despite only playing 19 minutes.
Indiana’s run continued deep into the second quarter as it held Stetson without a field goal for more than eight minutes. The Hatters missed 17 straight attempts during the stretch and the poor shooting prevented them from doing anything with the early 11-1 offensive rebound advantage.
"A team that's going to take a lot of shots especially from the outside, their second and third shot opportunities is their best offense, we talked about that in our prep," Moren said. "Eleven (in the first half) is way too many for a team we are clearly bigger than."
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: Recap: Indiana women's basketball wins 72-34 over Stetson
