No. 5/4 Indiana Survives Nail Bitter Against Illinois

Sunday, December 4

Bloomington, Ind.

2 PM ET

Indiana University

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Illinois

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Illinois

Indiana

No. 5/4 Indiana Survives Nail Bitter Against Illinois

12/4/2022 4:48:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana made stops and free throws down the stretch as it held off Illinois, 65-61, in the Big Ten opener on Sunday afternoon inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

KEY MOMENTS

The Hoosiers came out strong on the defensive end, holding the Illini to just 11 first quarter points. Junior guard Chloe Moore-McNeil led the offensive charge with 10 points. They would take a 21-11 lead after one.
Illinois (7-2, 0-1 B1G) won the second quarter, 21-13, but IU (9-0, 1-0 B1G) was held scoreless over the last 3:51 going into halftime with a two-point lead, 34-32. The Fighting Illini took as many as a four-point lead early in the third quarter, as Indiana's five-point run including a drive to the bucket from senior guard Sara Scalia put her team back up seven, with 2:22 to go.
The Fighting Illini would respond, as Makira Cook, who scored 33 points in the contest, drove to the rim to trim IU's lead down to one, 45-44, headed to the fourth.
In a back-and-forth final quarter, no team led by more than three as the two teams traded buckets for nearly the entire frame as senior forward Mackenzie Holmes' spin move in the paint gave IU the lead back with 37 seconds remaining. Illinois came up empty on a defensive stop by the Hoosiers on their next possession, with junior guard Sydney Parrish securing the board and putting Indiana in the bonus. She along with Scalia finished out the victory at the line.

NOTABLE

Indiana extended its win streak to 14 over the Fighting Illini, winning ever matchup since 2013.
It also won its fifth-straight Big Ten opener and are now 20-21 in conference debuts.
Holmes led the way for IU with 23 points and six rebounds and set a new season-high four blocks.
Moore-McNeil scored 10 of her 13 points in the first quarter. She also had three assist and a pair of rebounds.
Parrish had her second double-double of the season and third of her career with 12 points and 10 rebounds. The Fishers, Ind. native recorded four steals, tying her career high last done against Vermont in the season opener.
Scalia set a new season high in assists with six while freshman guard Yarden Garzon had nine points, three assist and three rebounds.

QUOTABLE
Indiana head coach Teri Moren
"First off, hats off to Illinois, that is not the Illinois of old. Shauna and her staff have those kids playing hard, well, and disciplined. By far the best defensive team we have faced. They have a lot of interesting pieces; they can shoot it and are athletic. They play aggressive and they're new to the Big, but they're doing a great job. Shauna is a great addition to this league and is just going to make it even more difficult than what it is. But I am really proud of our group, this was a game where we certainly had to fight, claw, and scratch just to get to the end and get a victory. On a night that we didn't shoot particularly well, but we are going to have nights like that. They can't all be like the North Carlina nights where everything goes in for us, we have to find different ways to score the ball, but also you just have to get grimy. You hope that your grit shows up and that you can make just enough plays to win the game. They certainly hurt us on the boards, they required double coverage from us, especially with Cook. She was really good tonight; she was cooking down the rails and that required us to have rotations. We were giving up rebounds also, we have to get that cleaned up as we move forward. I thought that Chole, once again, did a great job of showing great composure with the ball at the top. I thought Henna came in and gave us great minutes defensively, I thought she did a tremendous job on (Adalia) Mackenzie. This is one of those games, and as we said to our players, anytime you have a number by your name, you are the opponent's biggest game. So, we better get used to this territory when everybody is coming after you. We made it a 40-minute game and had just enough to get the win tonight."

UP NEXT
IU travels to Penn State on Thursday night. Tipoff at Bryce Jordan Center is slated for 7 p.m. ET.

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