Gassion Posts Career Day as Indiana Women’s Basketball Rolls Past Oakland, 84-59

Saturday, December 17

Bloomington, Ind.

5 pm

Indiana University

8-3

Oakland

5-5

OAKLAND

Indiana

Gassion Posts Career Day as Indiana Women’s Basketball Rolls Past Oakland, 84-59

12/17/2016 8:31:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Senior guard Alexis Gassion tied the seventh-best single game rebounding performance in school history as four players scored in double figures to guide Indiana Women's Basketball to its fourth-straight win, 84-59 over Oakland on Saturday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

Gassion's sixth career double-double was highlighted by 15 points and a career-high 20 rebounds as she became the first player to reach 20 or more rebounds in a single game since 1999. The Fairborn, Ohio native also posted three assists, two blocks and two steals in the victory, as Indiana improved to 8-3 overall on the 2016-17 season.

Junior forward Amanda Cahill also grabbed a double-double – the 21^st of her career – tying a season-high 17 points and 10 rebounds. A total of four players posted double-figures including 12 points each from senior forward Jenn Anderson and junior guard Tyra Buss. Buss's 12 points push her streak of double-figure scoring games to 48, one game shy of tying the all-time school record while she also added a game-high six assists, two steals and a block.

Every Hoosier who saw action today scored points including six each from senior guard Karlee McBride and freshman guard Ria Gulley. IU shot 44.4 percent on the day and also posted the victory on the boards (52-36), pulling down a season-high 52. Led by Buss's six assists, IU passed out 15 total on 29 made shots while also tying a season-high six blocks

Oakland's only lead came in the first 15 seconds of the ballgame, as Gassion would respond to even things up early on. Buss went and early 3-for-4 from the free throw line as the Golden Grizzlies (5-5) would tie it up at 5-5 on a Sha'Keya Graves 3-pointer.
IU would close the opening frame on a 11-4 run to take a 22-12 lead at the end of the first quarter, as a rebound by Towner led to a Buss 3-pointer as the buzzer expired. Freshman forward Darby Foresman opened the second by downing a baseline jumper on the feed from Buss. After an Oakland bucket, IU strung together a 6-2 run and nearly doubled up the score, 31-16, on a Gassion layup with 7:05 to play.

Cahill would pop one of her two triples on the day on a pass by Buss to push the lead out to 16 (36-20) at the media break. Free throws by Anderson and redshirt sophomore guard Tia Elbert down the stretch helped IU take a 42-27 lead at the half. Oakland would come within as few as 11 to open the third quarter, but Indiana rattled off three-straight buckets to extend its lead back up to 17 (44-32) with 6:12 to play.

IU would also get some help on a 6-1 run midway through the quarter, and sent the game to its final quarter up 60-43. Posting a victory in every quarter, including a 24-16 advantage to close out the game, the Hoosiers got some help from its bench in the fourth. Reserves would come in to score 14 of its 26 points in the final quarter of action.

NOTES

Senior guard Alexis Gassion led IU with her sixth career double-double (and second this season) with a new career-high 20 rebounds, 15 points, three assists, two blocks and two steals.
Gassion's 20 rebounds are the seventh most in a single game in school history and the most by a player since 1999 (Jill Champan, 21). Her 20 rebounds also tie the most in a single game this season in the Big Ten, tying Brionna Jones of Maryland who had 20 against Washington State on Nov. 26. She finished just two rebounds shy of the single game record of 22. In addition, her 20 rebounds tie as the seventh best single game performance this season in the nation and is just the third player listed at the guard position to pull down 20 or more rebounds.
Gassion also recorded her 600^th rebound of her career in the win – and now has 615 total rebounds. She becomes the 13^th player in school history to record 1,000 points and 600 rebounds
Junior guard Tyra Buss recorded her 48^th straight game in double figures and needs just one more game to tie the all-time consecutive double figure scoring game record (49, Karna Abram).
Buss also moved into the top 10 in assists (290) with her six in the win, pushing her past Kris McGrade (1991-94) to put her No. 10 on the list. With 10 more assists, Buss will become just the 10^th player in school history to record 300 assists or more.
Buss now owns 1,189 career points and sits at No. 16 on the all-time scoring list. Gassion also increased her career points to 1,077 and is No. 21 on the all-time scoring list.
Junior forward Amanda Cahill recorded her 21^st career double-double and team-high third of the season as she tied a season-high 17 points and added 10 rebounds. She now has 965 career points – 35 points shy of becoming the 26^th player in school history to reach 1,000 points.
Gassion and Cahill combine for the second duo of the season to both post double-doubles in the same game. Gassion and Buss also did it against Northern Kentucky on Dec. 8. It was also the fifth and sixth double-doubles for IU this season.
Indiana's win pushed its overall home win streak to 20 games inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The streak is the longest in program history and tied for the sixth best active streak in the NCAA.
All 11 players who played for Indiana on Saturday scored points.
IU improved to 3-0 over Horizon League opponents this season with wins over Northern Kentucky, Valparaiso and Oakland.
Seven of Indiana's eight wins this season have occurred by 25 points or more – including Saturday's 25-point victory over Oakland (84-59).
Indiana's four-straight wins are the longest win streak for the program this season.

UP NEXT
Indiana hits the road for its final two non-conference games of the season when it travels to the Florida Sunshine Classic in Winter Park, Fla. The Hoosiers will face Florida (Dec. 20) and Stony Brook (Dec. 21) on the campus of Rollins College with both tipoffs set for 7:45 p.m. ET.

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