Mackenzie Holmes scores 30 as IU women's basketball beats Illinois for 10th win in a row

BLOOMINGTON — IU women’s basketball ended 2023 with a 77-71 win over Illinois. It was IU’s (11-1, 2-0 Big Ten) 10th straight win and 16th consecutive victory over Illinois (6-6, 0-2).

Here’s why the No. 15 Hoosiers got it done in a tight one in Assembly Hall.

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Dominant Mackenzie Holmes performance

Indiana’s All-American proved why she’s earned that title Sunday. Holmes finished the game with a season-high 30 points on 10-for-14 shooting. She also snagged seven rebounds. It was Holmes’ 10th straight game in double figures after logging only eight points in IU’s loss at Stanford on Nov. 12.

Illinois had no answer for the fifth-year senior. The right-handed Holmes made several shots with her left hand. Whether it was a simple layup or an acrobatic scoop shot, Holmes scored bucket after bucket.

Holmes — who’s on pace to surpass Tyra Buss as IU’s all-time leading scorer — has to be the catalyst for the Hoosiers for the rest of Big Ten play. Last year she was firmly a top-two player in the conference, which led to IU winning the Big Ten regular-season title for the first time since 1983.

Without Grace Berger (who attended Sunday’s game), Holmes has even more of a scoring load. After scoring 25 points against Rutgers on Dec. 9, Holmes is on her way to another potent Big Ten campaign.

IU gets it done inside

Indiana controlled the paint in this one, especially in the first half. Thirty of the Hoosiers’ 37 first-half points came from inside. Led by Holmes’ strong showing, Indiana had 44 points in the paint.

On an afternoon where the Hoosiers made only five 3-pointers, they needed a forceful paint attack to get a win. Holmes was fantastic inside, but so was backup center Lilly Meister, who scored eight points off four layups inside.

It’s big for a team that plays one-in, four-out basketball to show what it can do in the lane. The Hoosiers controlled the interior to pick up another win.

Big day for Chloe Moore-McNeil

IU’s senior point guard Chloe Moore-McNeil had her best game of the year when the Hoosiers needed it. Moore-McNeil had 19 points to tie her career high Sunday.

Moore-McNeil typically plays the facilitator role for Indiana. Leading into Sunday, she had five or more assists in each of Indiana’s past five games. But against Illinois, Moore-McNeil hunted her own shot as Indiana’s other perimeter players struggled.

Heading into the game, Moore-McNeil averaged only 7.8 points per game, down from her 9.5 average in 2022-23. Moore-McNeil has become the full-time point guard now that Berger’s gone. Since IU didn’t get much outside scoring from anyone else, Moore-McNeil was in attack mode, and she guided the Hoosiers past the Fighting Illini.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana women's basketball gets 30 from Mackenzie Holmes vs. Illinois