Recap: IU women's basketball loses to South Carolina in March Madness

Evan Frank, Indianapolis Star

Fri, Mar 29, 2024, 7:15 PM·6 min read

The Indiana women's basketball team is in the third round of the NCAA tournament after wins over No. 13 Fairfield and No. 5 Oklahoma.

IU (26-5) is in the Sweet 16 for the third time in four years but faces its toughest test with a matchup against No. 1 South Carolina (34-0). The Gamecocks have cruised through the first two rounds with an average win total of 50 points.

Herald-Times reporter Mike Niziolek and IndyStar's Chloe Peterson will have analysis throughout, and we will have scoring updates, highlights and more. Please remember to refresh.

Final: South Carolina holds on to beat Indiana in Sweet 16

IU missed both 3-point attempts late. South Carolina holds on.

South Carolina 79, Indiana 75

0:14.5 left 4Q: Indiana down by 4 late

South Carolina's Tessa Johnson went 1 for 2 from the free throw line. IU calls a timeout.

South Carolina 79, Indiana 75

0:16.1 left 4Q: Indiana is down by 3

Raven Johnson fouled Indiana, which put Chloe McNiel-Moore on the line. She missed the first but made the second. South Carolina leads by 3.

South Carolina 78, Indiana 75

0:21.5 left 4Q: Indiana trails by 4 late in the game

Raven Johnson hit a 3 coming out of the break to make it 77-72. Mackenzie Holmes answered with a layup. 77-74 South Carolina with 30 seconds left.

IU has the ball down 4 points.

South Carolina 78, Indiana 74

0:58 left 4Q: Mackenzie Holmes makes it a 2-point game

Sydney Parrish is having herself a game. At the 3:54 mark, Parrish nailed her fifth 3 of the game, which cut South Carolina's lead to 70-65. Raven Johnson answered with a jumper to make it 72-65. However, Sara Scalia hit a 3 at 2:24. South Carolina's Kamilla Cardoso made a layup to make it 74-68.

Parrish went to the free-throw line at 1:42 and hit both shots. IU is down 74-70 with 1:42 left. Mackenzie Holmes made a layup to make it 74-72. What a comeback.

South Carolina 74, Indiana 72

4:50 left 4Q: South Carolina leads Indiana by 7

The Hoosiers lead the Gamecocks 7-4 so far in the final period. Both Sydney Parrish and Yarden Garzon have 16 points.

IU is 11 for 28 (39%) from the 3-point line.

South Carolina 69, Indiana 62

The 11 3-pointers that Indiana women's basketball has tied are tied for the most South Carolina has given up all season, only fifth time this season the Gamecocks have given up 10 or more 3-point field goals
— Michael Niziolek (@michaelniziolek) March 29, 2024

6:36 left 4Q: Here comes Indiana

IU is making quite the comeback against the No. 1 team. Sydney Parrish hit a 3 at 7:22 to cut South Carolina's lead to 5 points. Parrish now leads Indiana with 16 points (4 for 8 from 3).

South Carolina 65, Indiana 60

SYDNEY PARRISH 👌@sydney_parrish | #IUWBB

📺: ESPN pic.twitter.com/4CKzWzysyI
— Indiana Women’s Basketball (@IndianaWBB) March 29, 2024

End 3Q: Indiana outscores South Carolina in third period

Indiana made it a 10-run after Yarden Garzon's layup at 3:52. After South Carolina scored on a layup, Chloe Moore-McNeil scored 5 straight points. The Hoosiers outscored South Carolina in the third, 23-16. Garzon leads Indiana with 14 points and 6 rebounds.

South Carolina 65, Indiana 55

AND-1 FOR @YardenGarzon 😤#MarchMadness x 🎥 ESPN / @IndianaWBB pic.twitter.com/tyveFhd3xk
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessWBB) March 29, 2024

4:39 left 3Q: Indiana has outscored South Carolina in third quarter so far

IU has started the third with a 16-12 score. Sydney Parrish hit 2 3s.

South Carolina 61, Indiana 48

That's 8️⃣ straight points for @sydney_parrish!

📺: ESPN pic.twitter.com/01gkII3PhI
— Indiana Women’s Basketball (@IndianaWBB) March 29, 2024

Halftime: South Carolina leads Indiana by 17

IU will enter the second half with a big deficit to overcome. The Gamecocks ended the half with a 15-4 run.

South Carolina had four scoring runs of at least 7 points in a row.

South Carolina 49, Indiana 32

South Carolina up 49-32 over Indiana going into halftime, the Hoosiers just can't find a consistent option on offense, tried speeding game up, but haven't shot the ball consistently enough to do that, Holmes only played 13 minutes in the half thanks to early foul trouble
— Michael Niziolek (@michaelniziolek) March 29, 2024

4:40 left 2Q: South Carolina leads IU women by 8 points

South Carolina is shooting 46% from the floor while Indiana is at 39%. The Hoosiers have outscored the Gamecocks in the second quarter so far, 13-10.

South Carolina 36, Indiana 28

At the under-5 media timeout of the second quarter, SC leads, 36-28.

A fun stat: IU averages 20.7 3-point attempts per game. In ~15 minutes of game time today, they've taken 16 3-point shots. #iuwbb
— chloe peterson (@chloepeterson67) March 29, 2024

End 1Q: South Carolina goes on a run of its own

Sydney Parrish tied it at 12-12 with a 3-pointer at 4:28. From there, South Carolina went on an 8-0 run (2 3-pointers). Sara Scalia stopped the run with a 3 of her own at 2:56. However, the Gamecocks went on another 6-0 run.

Scalia leads the Hoosiers with 5 points.

South Carolina 26, Indiana 15

Sara creates this 🤏 much space for three!

📺: ESPN pic.twitter.com/6HGhrcskqQ
— Indiana Women’s Basketball (@IndianaWBB) March 29, 2024

4:38 left 1Q: Indiana is on a 7-0 run

South Carolina came out strong and led 10-2 at the 8:11 mark. Yarden Garzon answered with a 3-pointer to make it 10-5. Mackenzie Holmes then hit consecutive free throws to make it a one-possession game. Sara Scalia then hit a jumper at 4:55. IU is on a 7-0 run.

South Carolina 10, Indiana 9

South Carolina women's basketball leads 10-9 over Indiana with 4:38 to go in the first quarter, South Carolina has three turnovers over last two-plus minutes, IU locked down defensively after struggling in opening minutes
— Michael Niziolek (@michaelniziolek) March 29, 2024