No. 5 Indiana Overwhelms No. 6 North Carolina In ACC/Big Ten Challenge

Thursday, December 1

Bloomington, Ind.

6 P.M. ET

Indiana University

#6/6 North Carolina

No. 5 Indiana Overwhelms No. 6 North Carolina In ACC/Big Ten Challenge

12/1/2022 8:46:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Senior forward Mackenzie Holmes and junior forward Sydney Parrish combined for 49 points as No. 5 Indiana secured the ACC/Big Ten Challenge victory over No. 6 North Carolina, 87-63, on Thursday night.

KEY MOMENTS

After an early deficit, Indiana (8-0) used a 13-0 run to build a six-point advantage with 5:49 to play. North Carolina battled back at the lead, cutting it to as few as one before senior guard Sara Scalia and freshman guard Yarden Garzon hit 3-pointers to hold Indiana's lead at six at the end of one, 27-21.
Indiana displayed another strong second quarter, outscoring the Tar Heels 22-12 as it shot 56.3 precent from the field. Junior guard Chloe Moore-McNeil paced the Hoosiers with eight of her 10 points before the break, as her triple pushed IU to a 41-28 lead at the media timeout. It would be a 16-point advantage, 49-33, at the break as Moore-McNeil completed the 3-point play with just 23 ticks on the clock.
Fourteen of Parrish's 24 points came in the third quarter, as Indiana built its largest advantage of the game so far, 72-53, heading to the fourth. Garzon drained a long triple from the top of the key as time expired to move to the fourth.
Outscoring the Tar Heels for four-straight quarters, IU once again led the scoring margin in the fourth as its lead grew to as many as 24 on a Holmes bucket inside the paint. Indiana's defense would hold North Carolina to without a field goal in the final 5:06 of regulation.

NOTABLE

The Hoosiers improved to 9-6 all-time in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. They pick up their first home win in the challenge since 2015 and first win since 2019.
They also notch their first win in the series with North Carolina in the two team's first meeting since the 1980s.
Holmes led the way with 25 points, her 21^st 20-point game of her career.
Indiana recorded 12 made threes, tying their season high set against Vermont.
Indiana held North Carolina to shooting 35 percent for the game while shooting 53 percent.
Garzon finished with nine point, seven rebounds and seven assists.
Parrish recorded a season-high 24 points against the Tar Heels, just two shy of her career-high.
Moore-McNeil tied her career high in assists as Indiana made 20 assists on 32 made shots.
Indiana won the battle on the boards, 38-34, with a season-high from Moore-McNeil and Garzon each adding seven rebounds.
Overall, Indiana went 12-for-22 from the arc, shooting a season-high 54.5 percent from long range.
They also posted their fifth game of the season shooting 50 percent or more from the floor, going 53.3 percent.

QUOTABLE
Indiana head coach Teri Moren
"We finished the business. Our men started it last night and we felt like we had to finish off the Tar Heels tonight. I am really proud of our group. We got help from everybody. Obviously, Mack (Mackenzie Holmes) was terrific, but Syd (Sydney Parrish) was so good in so many ways. I think in order to beat a great team like North Carolina it takes everybody. This goes to our entire basketball team in terms of how we won this game. It was clearly a collective effort by everybody. We knew that everybody needed to do a little bit extra, a little bit more without Grace (Berger) being out there. I thought that we answered the bell in a big kind of way tonight. I would like to address how great the crowd was. It was great last night, but 9:15 p.m. is a little too late for Coach Moren. I did get to see it on TV. I had hoped that we could get a crowd back here tonight for us. I know our kids are really grateful for our fans showing up in a big kind of way tonight. You could hear them, and they were just like last night. This is a hard place to play when you feel this place from the energy to the noise, so I'm really happy. I thought our staff did a great job at game planning, coach Box this is his scout. We told him if he could execute the game plan, we can win. Sure, enough that is what we did tonight, so really pleased."

UP NEXT
The Hoosiers open Big Ten play on Sunday, Dec. 4 when it hosts Illinois. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. ET.

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