Gulbe’s Double-Double Helps No. 5 IU To Hold Off Northwestern

Thursday, February 17

Bloomington, Ind.

6 P.M. ET

Indiana University

19-4,11-2Big Ten

Northwestern

14-10,6-7Big Ten

Northwestern

Indiana

Gulbe’s Double-Double Helps No. 5 IU To Hold Off Northwestern

2/17/2022 8:49:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Senior forward Aleksa Gulbe recorded her third double-double of the season as No. 5 Indiana pushed past Northwestern, 69-58, on Thursday night.

KEY MOMENTS

Falling behind by a pair of buckets early, Indiana evened the score on a layup on the right side with 6:46 to go. The lead was exchanged a couple of times as Indiana was able to build a five-point lead with junior forward Mackenzie Holmes notching her first bucket of the night with just under two to play in the first. Patberg's layup at the buzzer kept IU with the edge, 18-13, at the end of one.
After two early 3's in the second quarter Nicole Cardaño-Hillary and a couple baskets from sophomore forward Kiandra Browne, the Hoosiers led by as many as eight in the early portion of the game.
But IU got into an offensive slump, not scoring a field goal in the last 4:40 seconds of the quarter. Northwestern closed the gap and came within one on a 3-point play from senior guard Veronica Burton as Gulbe cashed in at the line in the bonus to keep IU up 32-28 at the half.
In the third, the Wildcats went on a 5-0 run late in the third quarter and took a two-point lead on a Burton fast break but the Hoosiers responded with a 4-point play from Gulbe who knocked down the triple plus the bonus shot. Senior guard Grace Berger and Gulbe made sure the lead was solid going to the fourth with a 50-44 lead.
Indiana shot 60 percent in the fourth quarter behind seven points each from Berger and Cardaño-Hillary as it built a lead as many as 13 late.

NOTABLE

Indiana has won back-to-back games against Northwestern in the season series. It is their first win over Northwestern at home since Feb. 4, 2018.
The Hoosiers are 4-0 coming off a loss this season.
Indiana head coach Teri Moren becomes the second coach in program history to reach 100 wins at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
The win is the Hoosiers 11^th straight win at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
After trailing Northwestern 6-2 in the first quarter, the Hoosiers outscored the Wildcats 16-7 for the remainder of the period.
Following a 7-0 Northwestern run in which the Wildcats claimed a 44-42 lead with 1:44 left in the third quarter, the Hoosiers responded with an 8-0 run to go up 50-44 at the end of the period. It was started by a 4-point play by Aleksa Gulbe, who had six of the eight points in the scoring run.
After Northwestern scored six of the first eight points of the fourth quarter the Hoosiers went on an 8-0 run to go up 60-50. The Hoosiers held the Wildcats scoreless for three minutes and 32 seconds of game play.
Gulbe scored 20 points, her fifth game this season scoring at least 20 points. Gulbe added 12 rebounds for her third double-double of the season.
Indiana held Northwestern to five free-throw attempts.
The Hoosiers held the Wildcats to 58 points, the 10^th time this season the Hoosiers have held an opponent under 60 points.
Nicole Cardaño-Hillary recorded 17 points for the Hoosiers.
Grace Berger scored in double-figures for the 20^th time in 23 games this season with 15 points. She added five assists as well.
Ali Patberg registered six of the Hoosiers 17 assists in the game.
Indiana connected on 17-of-19 (89.5 percent) from the free-throw line.
The Hoosiers outrebounded Northwestern 35-29.
Mackenzie Holmes played her first game since Jan. 5 against Wisconsin and posted six points and six rebounds.

QUOTABLE
Indiana head coach Teri Moren
"I thought it was a good basketball game. I thought Northwestern was everything we thought they were. I think the one important stat, and I don't know how often you dig in to stats, but we can talk about players and performances, but the one stat that pops off the page for us is they only got to the free throw line five times. When you look at some of their previous games and games they've won, their getting to the free throw line either 22, 23, 25 times. The other day they lost to Minnesota and it was just the opposite of that. Minnesota gets to the line 22 times to their 10. That was a real important key going into this contest was keeping them off the free throw line and not allowing them to get any production from a free shot. If there is anything I'm happiest about tonight in this game as that we were disciplined enough. I thought second half we were really good defensively after we got to them at halftime we were able to make some adjustments. I liked how even though they got back into the game, Northwestern, and tied it up, Aleksa (Gulbe) comes down and hits that big shot, the three. From there I think the momentum changed. I'm really proud of our group and how they played tonight, especially coming after a really difficult loss at Nebraska."

UP NEXT
The Hoosiers host Iowa on Senior Day on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. ET.

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