Big Fourth Quarter Sends No. 5 Indiana Past Minnesota

Thursday, February 3

Bloomington, Ind.

7 P.M. ET

Indiana University

15-3,7-1Big Ten

Minnesota

10-13,3-8Big Ten

Minnesota

Indiana

Big Fourth Quarter Sends No. 5 Indiana Past Minnesota

2/3/2022 10:03:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – No. 5 Indiana scored 14 unanswered points in the final 4:42 of play as it defeated Minnesota, 80-70, on Thursday night inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

KEY MOMENTS

Indiana found itself trailing by four at the end of the first but a 9-0 run to start the second as Patberg found freshman guard Kaitlin Peterson down low to make it a 25-21 lead for the Hoosiers.
But Indiana couldn't hang on to a lead very long through most of the 40-minute game, as it went back-and-forth before half. Senior forward Aleksa Gulbe knocked down her first 3-pointer of the night with 2:03 to play. But the lead was short lived as the Golden Gophers countered with their own. Berger added two at the line before the break but a and-1 opportunity from Minnesota's Sara Scalia swung the favor to the visitors, 37-36 at the break.
Trailing by as many as six early in the third, sophomore forward Kiandra Browne took the wide-open look at the rim off the inbound pass while Berger capitalized off a turnover to make it a one-possession game. The two teams would share runs in the frame, as Berger's pull-up at the end of the third kept the margin at one, trailing 54-53.
The Hoosiers turned the jets on in the fourth, outscoring Minnesota 27-16 in the final 10 minutes of play which included a 14-0 run in the final 4:42. Scalia's 3-pointer with just under five to play proved to be the final bucket for her team on the night as Indiana chipped away on a Gulbe 3-pointer and regained the lead for good on a slip pass to junior guard Grace Waggoner for the lay-in.
Graduate student guard Nicole Cardaño-Hillary hit a clutch corner 3-pointer with 3:05 on the clock as Indiana also got buckets from Gulbe and Patberg down the stretch.

NOTABLE

With the win the Hoosiers improved to 15-3 overall and 7-1 in Big Ten Games.
The Indiana win was their fifth straight in the series against Minnesota.
The Hoosiers are now 9-1 in games at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall this season.
Aleksa Gulbe led the Hoosiers with a career-high 28 points on 11-of-15 shooting from the field and a perfect 4-of-4 from 3-point range.
After Minnesota scored a 3-point basket to go up 70-66 at the 4:42 mark of the fourth quarter the Hoosiers did not allow another Minnesota point and ended the game on a 14-0 run for the 80-70 win.
Indiana had four players scored in double-figures
Grace Berger posted a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds and added eight assists. It is her fourth career double-double.
Nicole Cardaño-Hillary added 14 points, six rebounds and five assists.
Ali Patberg scored in double figures for the 84^th time in her career with 11 points.
Gulbe scored nine of the Hoosiers 17 points in the first quarter.
Trailing 21-17 after the end of the first quarter the Hoosiers opened the second period with an 8-0 run to go up 25-21. Indiana held Minnesota scoreless until the 6:16 mark of the second quarter.
Indiana outscored Minnesota 27-16 in the fourth quarter.
The Hoosiers shot 28-of-55 (50.9 percent) from the field and 7-of-14 (50 percent) from 3-point range.
Indiana outrebounded Minnesota 34-27.
The Hoosiers connected on 17-of-20 (85 percent) from the free-throw line.
Indiana made six of their last seven shots in the game and their defense forced Minnesota into missing their last six shots of the game.

QUOTABLE
Indiana head coach Teri Moren
"First of all, thank you everybody who is here tonight for coming and covering this game on a snow-filled day. We really appreciate you guys being here for this game for us and for writing a story about it, so thank you guys for that. Interesting game, I think that we are still a team that is sort of still trying to create some momentum for ourselves, create some rhythm for ourselves. We're playing a lot of different pieces, we're playing differently than we are used to, so there are certainly have been some hiccups along the way, but I thought we finally, in the fourth quarter, when they got out of their zone and started guarding us man-to-man we had some timely plays that we made and really happy with the way Leks (Gulbe) played tonight, she was huge beyond the arc. I thought Grace Berger was terrific. I thought Grace Waggoner came in and gave us great minutes in the fourth when we were struggling there with their ball screen action and just, I tell you, Sara Scalia is a tough guard. Some of those 3's she hit were deep and they were tough, but we made the decision to get Wags in there and it paid off big for us. I thought that she did some nice things defensively. A great win, we know they all aren't pretty, we know that, but I thought the Hoosiers found a way to win a tough game tonight in a tough atmosphere. Trust me, we didn't want to go back to last year and not having fans in the seats, we miss our fans. I think that they would have given us a little more energy tonight. None the less, we had to create some in that fourth and I thought we did a nice job of doing that."

UP NEXT
Indiana will host Purdue on Sunday. Tipoff at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall is set for 1 p.m. ET.

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