Indiana Comes Up Short Against No. 4/5 Louisville in Big Ten/ACC Challenge

Thursday, November 30

Bloomington, IN

8 p.m.

Indiana University

4-3

No. 4 Louisville

7-0

Louisville

Indiana

Indiana Comes Up Short Against No. 4/5 Louisville in Big Ten/ACC Challenge

11/30/2017 10:34:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana Women's Basketball battled to the end but couldn't get past No. 4/5 Louisville as it fell, 72-59, on Thursday night in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

Freshman guard Jaelyn Penn led the Hoosiers with 17 points and provided five rebounds and three assists. Senior guard Tyra Buss was IU's other double-digit scorer as she shot 50% from the field (5-for-10) and from behind the arc (2-for-4) while contributing 12 points, two rebounds and three assists.

Junior forward Kym Royster led on the glass with eight boards and contributed eight points while senior forward Amanda Cahill added nine points, five rebounds and a team-high six assists.

Indiana (4-3) shot 42.6 percent from the floor on the night and struggled yet again from the line, going 5-for-9 (55.6 percent) in the loss. The Cardinals (7-0) also got the advantage on the glass, 38-27, including a 12-7 margin on the offensive end. Overall, Louisville shot 48.8 percent on the night and scored 54 of its 72 points in the paint.

From the start, U of L attacked the post and guiding them an early five-point lead before Cahill hit a three for the first IU bucket of night. The Hoosiers followed it up with a layup to tie it at 6-6 while exchanging threes to keep it a knotted up ball game. A 9-2 run for the Cardinals set up their 18-11 lead with 2:33 to go in the quarter before Indiana responded with two layups to cut the deficit to three. They would finish the first quarter with a Penn three and trail 22-18. The Hoosiers shot 58.3% from the field and 60.0% from behind the arc in the first frame.

Teams couldn't find the basket in the first two minutes of the second quarter only to be broken by a Cardinals layup. Freshman guard Keyanna Warthen responded with a three from the corner that was complimented by Penn hitting a three with four minutes to go in the quarter that brought the score within two. A combination of Cardinal layups and free throws paved the way for a 9-2 run and a 37-28 lead at the half.

A fast start in the second half for Louisville pushed their lead up to 11 just over two minutes in, which was finally halted a three from Penn. The Cardinals pressure was back on and halfway through the quarter, as it pushed the Indiana deficit up to its largest of the night, 51-36, with 5:40 remaining. The Hoosiers responded with a 12-8 advantage to finish the quarter

The fourth quarter started with the Hoosiers putting up the first five points and and came within as few as seven on a Buss triple. A stretch of six-straight points quickly gave Louisville a double-digit lead as IU would get no closer in the contest.

QUOTABLE
Head coach Teri Moren

"I loved our fight and I thought we played extremely hard for 40 minutes. I'm really proud of our gang and just how hard we played and fought. Especially those starters, the kids who have to play a bunch of minutes for us. All you have to do is look at the bottom of the stat sheet. In the paint points 54-30, the second chance points 14- 4. It doesn't take much to figure out how we ended up coming up short. (Myisha) Hines-Allen is a pro player and we didn't have an answer. It's not hard to hit a lot of shots when you're in point blank range. She is a tough guard for us because of her strength. Not that she is more physical than we are, because Amanda Cahill is every bit as physical, as well as Kym (Royster). It's just that she has strength. And as I mentioned she is a really good player, so I don't want to take anything away from her. I thought Jaelynn Penn was great, and I know you didn't ask for Bendu to come in here but she is my defense player of the game. She holds Asia Durr to only nine points tonight. That is a kid who went off against Ohio State for a bunch of points. She had a tall task tonight guarding (Durr). I'm really proud of Bendu and what she provided for us on a defensive stand point. We didn't shoot it overly well, Kym goes 4-for-10, Cahill goes 4-for-10. We need those points, and we didn't have it tonight. Like I said earlier in my earlier statement, I'm really proud of our fight tonight. We didn't back down or stop playing hard. The only thing you ask Is for the opportunity to fight for 40, and I was really proud of the way we did that tonight."

NOTABLE

Indiana moves to 6-5 all-time in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge
Freshman Jaelynn Penn led the Hoosiers with 17 points. She has scored 38 combined points in her last two games and has three double figure scoring games this season.
Penn scored ninth of the Hoosiers first 11 points in the second half.
Tyra Buss notched her 94th career double figure scoring game with 12 points. Buss now has 1,749 career points and is 20 points from moving into a tie for sixth on the Hoosiers all-time scoring list.
Amanda Cahill had a complete game with nine points, six assists and five rebounds. The six assists tied her career-high. Cahill ranks 14th on the Hoosiers all-time career scoring list with 1,406 points and is 22 points from moving into a tie for 13th on the list.
Indiana committed just three turnovers in the second half.
The Hoosiers shot 7-for-12 (58.3 percent) in the opening quarter of the game.

UP NEXT

Indiana continues their three-game home stand when it plays Auburn on Sunday, Dec. 3. Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m. ET at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall live on BTN Plus.

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