Indiana women's basketball lands early knockout blow in win over Michigan

BLOOMINGTON — The Indiana women’s basketball team went scorched earth against Michigan in the first quarter on Thursday night.

The Hoosiers hit 15 straight shots to start the game including six 3-pointers en route to a comfortable 80-59 win.

No. 14 Indiana (12-1; 3-0) extended its winning streak to 11 games — four shy of the program record set in 1971-72 — while handing Michigan (11-4; 2-1) its first conference loss. Mackenzie Holmes had 20 points and seven rebounds and Sara Scalia had 16 points with four 3-pointers and six assists.

Indiana women’s basketball has jaw dropping start

Indiana has put up some impressive statistical performances this season. It put up 112 points in a win over Murray State, the first 100-point game for the program since 2014, held Stetson to 34 points on 19.4% shooting and won multiple games by a margin of 50-plus points.

What they did in the first quarter-plus surpassed all that.

The Hoosiers scored 36 points in 10 minutes without missing a shot, and hit all six of the 3-pointers they attempted in the quarter against a Michigan team that was only allowing 55.2 points per game (38th nationally) while holding opponents to 42.7% shooting.

They were bombarded from everywhere on the court and couldn’t do anything to slow the Hoosiers down. Sydney Parrish lit the fuse, but IU’s fluid ball movement — they had 10 assists on the first 12 field goals — was a thing of beauty.

Indiana pushed the lead to 57-34 right out of halftime with back-to-back 3-pointers from Scalia and Yardon Garzon. Michigan used a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 18 points late in the fourth quarter, but that's the closest they got down the stretch.

Sydney Parrish’s hot hand sets the tone

Indiana had a different 30-point scorer in each of its previous three games (Garzon, Sara Scalia and Mackenzie Holmes) coming into Thursday night.

It looked like it would be Parrish’s turn against Michigan.

Parrish had 14 points in the first quarter with three of IU’s 3-pointers and also had four assists. She wasted no time making her mark on the game when she drove to the lane on the game’s opening possession.

She had eight points in the opening minutes and her back-to-back 3-pointers with 6:49 to go in the first opened up an early 14-5 lead. One of those long distance shots came after Michigan tried to triple team Holmes in the post.

Parrish was limited to 12 minutes in the second half thanks to foul trouble, but Indiana’s starting lineup has proven over the last two weeks that anyone of its starting five can carry the team offensively against even the best of opponents.

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: IU women's basketball beats Michigan to stay unbeaten in Big Ten