Behind Patberg and Holmes, No. 14 IU Wins Big Ten Opener Over Michigan State

Saturday, December 28

Bloomington, Ind.

6 PM

Indiana University

11-2,1-0Big Ten

Michigan State

7-5,0-1Big Ten

Michigan St.

Indiana

Behind Patberg and Holmes, No. 14 IU Wins Big Ten Opener Over Michigan State

12/28/2019 8:55:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Highlights Photo Gallery Coach Moren Postgame Players Postgame

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – A second-half surge led the No. 14 Indiana Women's Basketball team to a 79-67 win over Michigan State on Saturday night in the Big Ten opener at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The Hoosiers shot 61.7 percent from the floor, the fifth-best single game field goal percentage in school history.

KEY MOMENTS

In a back-and-forth opening quarter, the Spartans took a one-point lead after the first ten minutes, 22-21. Indiana (11-2, 1-0 B1G) would rally from behind five-points with three-straight field goals from freshman forward Mackenzie Holmes and junior guard Jaelynn Penn and a 14-11 lead with just over four minutes to go.
The two teams would exchange leads in the final 3:34 of the quarter but it was Michigan State's Shay Colley who's bucket with 30 second saw the Hoosiers down after the first.
Offense slowed in the second quarter as the Hoosiers feel behind by as many as 12 with 2:05 to play in the frame. But five-straight points closed out the half including a steal and coast-to-coast layup from Berger made it just a six-point deficit at the break, 37-31.
In the third quarter, the Hoosiers turned on the jets as they went 10-for-14 from the floor in the frame including nine points from Holmes who went a perfect 4-for-4. Indiana tied the game on a handful of occasions in the third, finally grabbing the lead on a Holmes and-one with 1:23 to play. She would score the final two buckets of the quarter as IU went up 54-49.
Another solid effort from the field in the fourth helped the Hoosiers, who pushed the lead up to as many as 14. They would shot 7-for-9 from the floor and combined to go 74.6 percent in the second half.

NOTABLE

Redshirt junior Ali Patberg led the way with 23 points. It marked her first 20-point game this season and the 12^th 20-plus point game and 32^nd double figure scoring game of her career.
Freshman forward Mackenzie Holmes came off the bench to go 7-for-8 from the field to add 18 points, her ninth double figure scoring game this season. Holmes scored nine of her 18 points in the third quarter and had a stretch where she scored nine of 11 points for Indiana. Holmes connected on 7-of-8 from the field and is now shooting 67-of-94 (71.3 percent) from the field for the season. Holmes has scored in double-figures in four of her last five games.
The Hoosiers hot 61.7 percent for the game, the fifth-best single game field goal percentage in school history. IU shoot a combined 74.6 percent in the second half – 71.4 percent in the third quarter (10-for-14) and 77.8 percent in the fourth quarter (7-for-9). It is the sixth game this season the Hoosiers have shot 50 percent or better from the field in a game and third game shooting 60 percent or better.
Junior guard Jaelynn Penn finished the night with six points and 999 points for her career at Indiana.
Michigan State led 37-25 at 2:05 in the second quarter. Indiana scored the final six points of the quarter and opened the second half with a 10-2 run for a combined 16-2 run to go up 41-39 at the 6:37 mark of the third quarter.
Indiana outscored Michigan State 23-12 in the third quarter. Indiana outscored Michigan State 48-30 for the second half.
Ali Patberg (23), Mackenzie Holmes (18), Grace Berger (16) and Aleksa Gulbe (11) combined for 68 of the Hoosiers 79 points. Those four players shot a combined 24-of-35 (68.6 percent) from the field.
After allowing Michigan State to shoot 7-of-15 (46.7 percent) in the first quarter Indiana held Michigan State to 16-of-48 (33.3 percent) shooting for the remainder of the game.
Indiana held a 44-28 advantage in points in the paint.
With the win, Indiana has defeated Michigan State in the series four of the last five meetings.
The announced crowd of 6,020 was a new season-high and the ninth most in a single game in school history.

QUOTABLE
Head coach Teri Moren
"It's great to have our first Big Ten win for our group. We know that every one of them is going to be just this difficult and I thought it was the tale of two halves. Obviously, in the first half, we struggled a little bit. We struggled mostly with our effort. I thought we guarder their stuff fairly decent, but it was those second and third chance opportunities that led to kick out threes. We lost (Taryn) McCutcheon in transition. Once we got to them at half time, we talked to them about our effort and just the intangible things we had to change. Our mindset, 50/50 balls, everything about how we were approaching the game needed to change. I thought there was change in the second half. I thought Ali Patberg was terrific and, obviously, Mackenzie Holmes was unstoppable. I thought Aleksa Gulbe gave us great minutes. Jorie Allen came in and just hustled her rear end off. We got some help from kids off the bench that were huge tonight. I am happy for our group. Like I said, it doesn't get any easier form here, so we are going to enjoy this one tonight and then start are prep for Rutgers."

UP NEXT
IU travels to Rutgers on Tuesday night. The New Year's Eve matchup is set for 3 p.m. ET on Big Ten Network.

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