Hoosiers Outlast Penn State On New Year’s Eve

Monday, December 31

Bloomington, IN

7 P.M. ET

Indiana University

Penn State

Penn St.

Indiana

Hoosiers Outlast Penn State On New Year’s Eve

12/31/2018 10:24:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Behind another stellar performance from redshirt junior guard Ali Patberg, Indiana Women's Basketball rallied to defeat Penn State, 83-75, on New Year's Even inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The Hoosiers improve to 2-0 in Big Ten play for the first time since 2010-11.

KEY MOMENTS

The Hoosiers (13-1, 2-0 B1G) trailed by seven early on as it needed a timeout to finally find its offense more than five minutes in. Patberg took control and had six of IU's first 10 points as her drive to the bucket tied it up at 10-10 with 1:41 to play in the first.
Indiana would trail 14-11 at the end of the first quarter behind seven points from Patberg as a 6-0 run in the second would give IU a brief 19-18 lead with 4:26 to play. Penn State (7-6, 0-2 B1G) would go back up on the following possession and got back-to-back buckets. Freshman guard Grace Berger's transition layup with 2:49 cut the deficit back down to two, 23-21.
Indiana would make its living at the line in the final 2:29 to play as it got four points at the charity stripe from Wise and another pair from freshman forward Aleksa Gulbe to push Indiana to a 27-25 lead at the break.
Both teams struggled from the field in the first half, the Hoosiers shooting just 31.3 percent overall.
In the third quarter, Indiana went up by as many as six but after a Lady Lion 10-0 run with 2:17 remaining made it a four-point deficit, 50-46. Capitalizing at the line, Indiana regained its lead thanks to Wise and Yeaney who made it a 56-55 advantage going into the final 10 minutes.
In the fourth, Penn State tied the game up at 59-all less than a minute in but wouldn't get any closer as Patberg's and-1 and jumper pushed her team to a six-point lead, 62-59. It was part of 13 of her 26 points in the frame as a pair at the line as part of a Penn State technical foul by Wise really pushed the game out of reach, 75-66, with 2:41 remaining. The Lady Lions would come no closer than four with 1:05 remaining as free throws were big down the stretch as sophomore guard Bendu Yeaney and Wise would go 5-for-6 in the final 26 seconds of play.

NOTABLE

Redshirt junior guard Ali Patberg recorded her 10^th straight game in double figures and fourth-consecutive scoring 20 points or more as she led with a game-high 26 points. The Columbus, Ind. native went 9-for-18 from the floor and also had a team-high eight rebounds and four assists.

Redshirt junior guard Brenna Wise turned in her second 20-point scoring game this season as she added 20 points and went 13-for-14 from the free throw line.
Indiana's 31 made free throws tied for the third-most in a single game in program history. The Hoosiers went 31-for-37 from the free throw line on the night.
Sophomore guard Jaelynn Penn also contributed double figures,
Indiana shot just 37.5 percent on the evening, but recovered from a 22.2 percent first half clip to shoot 49.6 percent in the second half.
The two teams tied in rebounds, 39 each, while IU won the offensive glass, 14-9.
Penn and Patberg led the way with two steals each.
With the win, IU improves to 2-0 in the Big Ten for the first time since the 2010-11 season.
Penn State and Indiana would combine to score 52 points at the charity stripe on the night.
IU played in front of a season-high crowd of 4,481 in the win.
The Hoosiers improve to 7-0 overall at home this season. In addition, they rounded out the 2018 calendar year with a 19-0 record at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall

QUOTABLE
Indiana head coach Teri Moren
"As I said to the kids, it wasn't pretty offensively. I thought we got some really good shots, and sometimes that is just the way goes. You have to remind your defense because that's what we always fall back on. Tonight, (Teniya) Page is a really good player. She is a pro. She is very difficult to guard, but I thought that we still did a really good job on her, and Bendu in particular, had that assignment. I'm really proud of our kids. I though Ali Patberg was tremendous. She is coming off of a little bit of a fracture in her nose and was back in forth about using a mask. She chose to use it and I was worried if that would affect her. Obviously, it didn't. I am really proud of the way she played as well as the entire team. It took all of us as we got into foul trouble. We had moving pieces on the sidelines. This is a really great win against a really good team. We are obviously happy about the outcome but realize that we still have more work to do."

UP NEXT
The Hoosiers will return to Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Sunday afternoon when they host No. 15/22 Michigan State. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. ET.

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