Indiana Holds Off Rutgers For Third-Straight Win

Saturday, January 27

Bloomington, IN

1 p.m.

Indiana University

11-12, 4-6B1G

Rutgers

17-6, 5-4B1G

Rutgers

Indiana

Indiana Holds Off Rutgers For Third-Straight Win

1/27/2018 4:50:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Photo Gallery

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Four players scored in double figures as Indiana held off Rutgers, 64-58, on Alumni Day at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

Senior forward Amanda Cahill, junior forward Kym Royster and freshman guard Jaelynn Penn all tied for a team-high 14 points in the win. Cahill led on the glass, adding seven rebounds to go along with two blocks while Royster grabbed five boards and went 6-for-8 from the line. Penn scored 10 of her points in the first half while also going a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe.

Senior guard Tyra Buss also contributed double figures with 12 points with a team-high four assists and three steals. With those three steals, Buss became the program's all-time steals leader with 261 career swipes. It marked the fourth record Buss has broken this season to go along with being the leader in

The Hoosiers (11-12, 4-6 B1G) shot 40.5 percent on the afternoon to go along with a season-high 86.2 percent from the free throw line. Rutgers (17-6, 5-4 B1G) shot 47.1 percent from the floor but just 21.4 percent from 3-point line. Redshirt senior guard Tyler Scaife scored a game-high 17 points and junior guard KK Sanders dropped in 10 points and six assists.

Things were knotted at 16-all after the first quarter as Indiana would get a 3-point lead on back-to-back layups from Penn and Buss with 40 seconds to go. Rutgers Ciani Cryor would have the equalizer from beyond the arc just 20 seconds later to end the first quarter.

Indiana would push its lead to as many as four in the second quarter as Buss found Royster inside while Yeaney was fouled in transition and completed the 3-point play with 7:45 left. Rutgers would cut it the lead down to one on several occasions as IU used a pair of free throws by Cahill and Penn and a triple by Buss to go up eight with just under a minute to go. Indiana would take a 36-29 lead at halftime as the third quarter would go to the Scarlet Knights who shot 66.7 percent in the quarter.

Rutgers would use a 12-0 run to lead by as many as seven as Indiana went cold from the floor for over five minutes before Royster completed her first of two 3-point plays in the quarter. She would close it out the same way, as Indiana would come within three, 49-46, heading into the final quarter. Indiana's bright spot in the fourth, as it outscored the Scarlet Knights 18-9, came from the free throw line. 12 of the Hoosiers' 18 points in the frame came from the charity stripe as it went 12-for-14 down the stretch.

Cahill would get Indiana back on top with a three with 3:43 to play before Rutgers tied it back up at 51-51. Buss came off a screen to get the pass from Yeaney at the top of the key from the arc. The Scarlet Knights would put IU in the bonus with just under a minute to play, as 10-straight at the line helped put away the game.

QUOTABLE
Head coach Teri Moren
"It's a great win for our group today. It didn't feel like we could get into any rhythm offensively. I know that sounds a little odd. It just seemed like we had to work awfully hard on the offensive end to score throughout the game. I thought we got some really good looks, but some of those just didn't go down for us. I also thought we got some really great minutes. Kym was really great on the low block tonight, Amanda Cahill handled herself on a night that Tyra didn't shoot it well. And of course, she (Tyra) gets the steal record which is tremendous. Then down the stretch hitting our free throws was huge. We didn't handle ourselves as well as we needed too and as well as we would have liked to. With the press, we knew that was going to happen. So just a few careless decisions at the end, but I thought we had got a little bit of some breathing room. And obviously when you hit free throws it makes you feel a little bit better also."

NOTABLE

With the victory over Rutgers, Indiana has now won the last three meetings in the series against the Scarlet Knights.
The Hoosiers have won their last three games (at Michigan State, vs. Wisconsin, vs. Rutgers).
IU had four players score in double-figures. Senior Amanda Cahill, junior Kym Royster and freshman Jaelynn Penn scored 14 apiece and senior Tyra Buss had 12 points.
Buss pushed her career scoring total to 2,059 points. With a steal in the fourth quarter, Buss established a new Indiana program record for career steals with 261.
Cahill ranks seventh in school history in career scoring with 1,653 and third in career rebounds with 1,009.
Indiana held Rutgers to 2-for-11 (18.2 percent) shooting from the field in the fourth quarter and outscored the Scarlet Knights 18-9 in the final period.
The Hoosiers connected on 25-for-29 (86.2 percent) from the free-throw line. The 25 free-throws made are the most this season for Indiana.

UP NEXT
Indiana will get an eight-day break before it hosts Northwestern on Sunday, February 4. Tipoff is set for noon on Big Ten Network.

Follow Indiana Women's Basketball on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

#GoIU