5-seed Hoosiers Headed To Big Ten Championship With Victory Over Top-Seed Ohio State

Saturday, March 5

Indianapolis, Ind. (Gainbridge Fieldhouse)

3:30 P.M. ET

Indiana University

22-7,11-5Big Ten

1-seed (#13/16) Ohio State

23-6,14-4Big Ten

Indiana

Ohio St.

5-seed Hoosiers Headed To Big Ten Championship With Victory Over Top-Seed Ohio State

3/5/2022 6:57:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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INDIANAPOLIS – Graduate student guard Nicole Cardaño-Hillary recorded a double-double as 5-seed Indiana held off top-seeded Ohio State, 70-62, in the Big Ten Tournament semifinal on Saturday inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Indiana advances to its first Big Ten Tournament championship game in 20 years, last appearing and winning the 2002 tournament finale.

KEY MOMENTS

In a face paced first quarter, Indiana leads 15-12 at the media behind 8 points from graduate student guard Ali Patberg
Ohio State went without a field goal for 3:31 of the later part of the frame as IU got a Berger attack at the rim to keep the lead at four, 21-17, at the end of the first.
To begin the second quarter, the Hoosiers and Buckeyes exchanged buckets until Patberg collected the layup and then the steal which led to two made free throws for senior guard Grace Berger.
Out of the media timeout, Nicole Cardaño-Hillary hit a driving layup off an Ohio State turnover. The Hoosiers took an eight-point lead into the halftime break, 38-30.
Back-to-back buckets for Holmes and a Patberg layup pushed IU's advantage to 12 as Ohio State called a timeout two minutes in to the third quarter. IU saw its lead cut down to as few as five, but a 6-0 run led it back to a double-digit lead with 1:36 on the clock. Going to the fourth with a 57-48 lead, Indiana got its largest lead of the night at 13 as Patberg found Cardaño-Hillary on a back door to take a 66-53 lead.
However, Ohio State would make a final run at the Hoosiers with just under a minute to play as it came within two possessions. Forced to foul, the Buckeyes would send IU to the line as Cardaño-Hillary finally put the game away with 18 seconds remaining.

NOTABLE

After the win against Ohio State, Indiana heads to the Big Tournament championships game against the winner of Iowa and Nebraska. This is the first time since 2002 that the Hoosiers will play for the conference championship.
Cardaño-Hillary recorded her first double-double of the season with a team high 16 points and 11 rebounds.
Patberg added double figures with 15 points. She also collected three rebounds and three assists.
Holmes recorded her second straight game in double figures with 12. Holmes grabbed three rebounds and two blocks.
Sophomore guard Chloe Moore-McNeil got her second start of the season on Saturday afternoon. She scored 11 points with three rebounds and two assists
Berger was also in double figure scoring, scoring 10 points. Berger was Hoosiers' assists leader with seven.
Never giving up the lead to the Buckeyes, Indiana's biggest scoring margin came in the fourth quarter where they were up 13 with 4:55 on the clock.
Indiana won the rebound battle, tallying 37 boards compared to Ohio State's 30. They improve to 18-0 when outrebounding an opponent this season.
Indiana had 20 assists on 24 made shots.
The Buckeyes were held to just 42.2 percent field goal shooting and 19.0 from 3-point land.
Indiana was able to force Ohio State to shoot 19.0 from the 3-point line.

QUOTABLE
Indiana head coach Teri Moren
"Well, like I told these guys in the locker room, there was so many great things that happened today and, except for the first one, which we didn't wake up, I don't think any of us, anticipating that Lex was going to be sick and not able to go until later in the game. But I thought Chloe stepped up in a big kind of way. She was terrific in the first quarter of play. All of them were in terms of just how we got off to a fast start, a great start. Loved the rhythm. Loved just the tempo. And then I thought Ali Patberg defensively was tremendous on Mikesell. I know that Mikesell's had a game like that, which was so difficult for her this afternoon. I thought Ali Patberg was terrific. We asked our guards to rebound the ball today, and look at the stat sheet, and Nikki has 11. She has a double-double. She has 11 of our rebounds, which was terrific, just her hustle and her play. Proud of the fact that we shared the sugar with 20 assists on 24 field goals and most importantly that we outrebounded them. Statistics show when we out-rebound teams we win. So it was a great collective effort by our, the Hoosiers today, and just really proud, really proud of how these guys showed up and executed."

UP NEXT
The Big Ten Tournament championship game is set for 4 p.m. ET on Sunday. The Hoosiers will meet Iowa in the championship final.

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