Sara Scalia sizzles, IU defense stifles in 84-35 blowout win over Bowling Green

BLOOMINGTON — Indiana women’s basketball finished its nonconference slate with a victory, taking down Bowling Green, 84-35, on Friday night.

The Hoosiers are now 10-1 heading into a nine-day break. They will resume Big Ten play with Illinois on Dec. 31.

Here are three observations from the game:

Sara Scalia steps up

Senior guard Sara Scalia has cemented her role in the Hoosiers’ starting lineup as the 3-point shooting phenom. Scalia, who transferred from Minnesota ahead of the 2022-23 season, is leading the Hoosiers with a 43.5% clip beyond the arc this season.

She picked up 15 points by halftime — with nine of those coming in a three-minute stretch in the second quarter. Her hot shooting didn’t stop after halftime, as Bowling Green twice took a timeout after Scalia sunk a 3-pointer.

As the fourth quarter wore on, every 3-pointer Scalia made came with a large cheer from the crowd — and a rare change from her stoic face after sinking a shot.

"I just saw my first couple go down, and obviously my teammates were looking for me when I was open, and it's a good feeling when you're hot like that," Scalia said. "I was just trying to have fun with it and keep playing my game."

She checked out of the game at the five-minute mark to a standing ovation, finishing with 32 points — her most in an IU uniform — on 11-of-17 shooting (8-of-11 from 3). She finished five points off of her collegiate career high of 37, which she set at Minnesota in a game against Ohio on Dec. 15, 2021.

"Sara Scalia was super, she was special," head coach Teri Moren said. "She scored the ball great, but I thought she was really good defensively. As well as she shot it from beyond the arc, I thought she was as good defensively, with how she was focused and determined and did a great job."

Stifling defense

The Hoosiers defense stepped up in the final nonconference game, holding the Falcons to 0.54 points per possession. And that’s a defensive improvement from Bowling Green’s .613 points per possession at halftime, when Bowling Green shot 28.6% from the field.

"Tonight's game was a good game for us going into the break and then going in to the Big Ten, especially defensively," Scalia said. "We've improved throughout the nonconference season, which is something we've really focused on, so I think that's a good thing for our team."

The Falcons did lose their leading scorer, Lexi Fleming, to an apparent leg injury in the first minute of the game. Fleming fell after colliding with Hoosiers guard Chloe Moore-McNeil, immediately yelling out in pain. Both Indiana and Bowling Green trainers attended to her, and she didn’t put any weight on her left leg as she was helped off the floor. Bowling Green did not score for seven minutes after Fleming’s injury.

"You never like to see anything like that happen, especially as early — one minute into the game," Moren said. "I really feel for (head coach Fred Chimel) and his team, and certainly her ... it shook all of us for a minute. We had to all get our bearings."

The Hoosiers kept their stifling defense throughout the second half, as the Falcons scored just six points in the third quarter, putting IU up by 35 points.

The Falcons ended the game shooting just 23.7% from the field, including 0-of-11 3-pointers — breaking a 600-game streak where Bowling Green made at least one shot beyond the arc.

"Going into this game, I told them right before we left, 'Defense will win you this game tonight, our defense has to show up,'" Moren said. "Some of it was that, but they just had a terrific focus tonight, especially on that."

Free-throw trouble lingers

In the final tune-up before Big Ten play begins, the Hoosiers again struggled from the free-throw line against Bowling Green. The Hoosiers rank 11th in the Big Ten in free-throw percentage, coming in at 69.4% from the charity stripe.

Coach Teri Moren has been vocal about her displeasure with the Hoosiers' shooting from the free-throw line, and senior Mackenzie Holmes said the 70% shooting would not fare in Big Ten play.

IU shot 62% (10-of-16) from the line on Friday night, with Holmes making four of her seven shots from the stripe.

"If she hits her seven free throws, you're looking at 17 points," Moren said. "... Mack is overthinking a little bit too much right now. We've got to get her to relax and let the game come to her."

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IU women's basketball: Sara Scalia scores 32 in win over Bowling Green