IU women's basketball steamrolls Eastern Illinois in season opener

BLOOMINGTON — IU women’s basketball head coach Teri Moren didn’t waste any time collecting her 400th career win.

The 10th-year head coach at IU (21st overall) achieved the feat Thursday night with IU’s victory over Eastern Illinois in the Hoosiers’ season opener. Over half of her wins — 201 — have come with the Hoosiers.

IU solidified its victory early, going up 53-24 at halftime. While the Hoosiers coasted to a 96-43 win, Moren is sure to have this one to remember.

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Here are three other observations from the game:

Effective as ever, Mackenzie Holmes moves up all-time scoring list

IU fifth-year senior Mackenzie Holmes, who came into the season fourth all-time in IU women’s basketball scoring, was 13 points short of third.

Knowing Holmes, there was no way she wasn’t making that jump, and more in the opener. The preseason All-American only missed one shot in the first half, going 7-of-8 from the field for 14 points.

"We know, whenever we are getting slow on offense, get it into Mack," sophomore Lexus Bargesser said. "Whenever we need a quick bucket, get it into Mack. We know we can rely on her for that, and it doesn't just end with her offensive game."

For Holmes to be a shot machine, she needs someone to feed her the basketball in the post. For the last four years, that had been Grace Berger. But on Thursday, sophomore Yarden Garzon made up for Berger’s absence, tying a career high with seven assists in just the first half — with a good chunk of them going to Holmes.

"The thing I learned about this summer was being aggressive," Garzon said. "And I knew I did it this game. I'm happy about it, and happy to be on the court again."

Holmes finished with 19 points on 9-of-10 shooting — two points from second in IU career scoring. Denise Jackson, who played from 1981-84, scored 1,917.

Holmes only played 19 minutes, barely taking the floor in the second half. If she recorded even 1 more minute, there’s a good chance she would have moved up another rung.

But she’ll have to wait until Sunday against Stanford.

Defense falters early, but recovers

Moren’s main issue coming out of IU’s exhibition against D-II Northwood last week was the Hoosiers’ lack of defense — they were allowing straight-line drives, open 3-pointers, and more.

The Hoosiers can outscore a Division II team, sure. But when it comes to the regular season, IU needed to shape up.

Early against Eastern Illinois, it looked like IU was going down the same road as it did against Northwood. The Panthers scored on each of their first three possessions and scored 10 points in the first 5 minutes.

"It seemed like we were trading baskets there for the first couple minutes of the game," Moren said.

After the first-quarter media timeout, though, IU had the wake-up call it needed. The Hoosiers only allowed 14 points through the rest of the first half, forcing seven turnovers.

That scrappy defense continued into the second half, as IU allowed just eight points in the third quarter and nine in the fourth.

"The defensive goal overall today was to keep them under 60 points," Moren said. "We were clearly going to achieve that, so with the second-team, I changed the defensive goal to 42 instead, so we missed it by the one late bucket. I thought we got better as the game went on."

Lexus Bargesser shows clutch ability

What’s better than one buzzer beater? Two buzzer beaters — duh.

"Not in the same game, no," Bargesser said. "I never had two."

Sophomore guard Lexus Bargesser, who came off the bench for 23 minutes on Thursday night, beat the buzzer twice on Thursday night, in the first and third quarters. With IU up 13 and 45 points at the time, they weren’t game-changing plays.

But it showed a glimpse of what she could do when it comes down to the wire. Bargesser, a vocal leader on the court, guarded Eastern Illinois coming up the court, swatting at the ball and forcing the Panthers to adjust.

Bargesser ran the second-team offense, as well, creating plays for freshmen Lenee Beaumont and Julianna LaMendola. The sophomore went 7-of-7 from the field for 15 points on Thursday in a team-high of minutes.

"Just being able to come out the first game and do that gave me a ton of confidence, but it also helps that I'm so confident in my teammates, too," Bargesser said. "Even if I miss, I know we're going to get a put-back."

IU women's basketball career scoring

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IU women's basketball beats Eastern Illinois, Mackenzie Holmes moves up in scoring list