No. 2/3 Indiana Claims Top Spot In Big Ten With Win Over No. 5/6 Iowa

Thursday, February 9

Bloomington, Ind.

6:30 PM ET

Indiana University

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#5/6 Iowa

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Iowa

Indiana

No. 2/3 Indiana Claims Top Spot In Big Ten With Win Over No. 5/6 Iowa

2/9/2023 10:09:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Graduate student guard Grace Berger and senior forward Mackenzie Holmes combined for 50 points as No. 2/3 Indiana defeated No. 5/6 Iowa, 87-78, in front of a new program record crowd at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

KEY MOMENTS

Iowa (19-5, 11-2 B1G) led by as many as six in the first quarter, but senior guard Sara Scalia connected on a 3-pointer and graduate student Grace Berger pulled the Hoosiers back within one with 4:30 to play.
Junior Sydney Parrish tied the game at 15 points with a 3-pointer. As the two teams traded buckets, the first quarter came to an end at a 19-19 tie.
Indiana (23-1, 13-1 B1G) took as many as a four-point lead in the quarter. Scalia connected from the left wing on a pass from Berger with 4:51 remaining. In a point-by-point battle between the Hoosiers and the Hawkeyes, it was Junior Chloe Moore-McNeil who kept the lead with Indiana with 2:25 left in the second quarter. Once again, the two teams battled going into the break as the score was tied up 39-39.
With 10 lead changes and two ties, Indiana was able to own the third quarter outsourcing Iowa 23-18. Berger had 12 of her 26 points in the third. IU's defense was able to hold Iowa without a field goal in the final 3:34 as it built its largest lead of the game 62-57.
The game was tied up again early in the fourth quarter, before Indiana responded on a second chance opportunity by Holmes. An electric 3-pointer from freshman Yarden Garzon had Assembly Hall on its feet, forcing a Hawkeye timeout with a 69-62 lead.
IU used the freshman's momentum to build a double-digit lead as it held on to take control of the top of the Big Ten standings.

NOTABLE

Senior forward Mackenzie Holmes was the first into double figures, scoring 12 in the first half. She finished with 24 points, the 29th time in her career she's scored 20-or-more in a contest.
Holmes entered the night in 10th on the program's all-time scoring list with 1,711 points. She now has 1,735 and needs just 18 to pass Ali Patberg (1,752, 2018-22) for 9th in IU history.
The Gorham, Maine native came into the night with 191 blocks for her career. She added another block in the contest for 192 in her career. Holmes needs just six more to pass Jill Chapman (197, 1999-02) for the second most in program history.
Graduate student guard Grace Berger poured in a season-high 26 points, the 21st time in her career she's scored 20-plus points.
Berger entered the night with 1,702 points. Her 26 against the Hawkeyes puts her at 1,728 for her career which stands 11th in program history.
The Louisville, Ky. native also grabbed nine rebounds and tallied six assists in 39 minutes of action.
The Hoosiers have won 12-consecutive games when Berger and Holmes both score in double digits.
IU forced 11 first-half turnovers and 18 overall in the victory.
Junior guard Chloe Moore-McNeil also reached double-figure scoring with 11 points. She went 8-for-8 from the charity stripe and dished out three assists and grabbed nine rebounds.
Senior guard Sara Scalia scored eight points in reserve. Freshman guard Yarden Garzon added eight points while junior guard Sydney Parrish added nine points in the victory.
13,046 fans piled into Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, breaking the program's all-time attendance record of 13,007 which was set at the WNIT Championship Game in 2018.

QUOTABLE
Indiana head coach Teri Moren
"Well first of all, I know I can speak for our staff and program, what a great crowd tonight in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Were so grateful once again to have the turnout and energy in the building. Trust me when I tell you we needed everyone one of those 13,000 rear ends in the seats tonight to help us get to the finish line. Really proud of our group tonight, I thought Grace and Mackenzie were obviously so good offensively. I thought Mack did a tremendous job on Monica tonight. Caitlin is Caitlin, she's a superb player. We knew she was going to score, but I do want to point out that in the second half, Sara Scalia came in and really gave us some great minutes defensively. We talk about being in gaps, but also we felt like we had to take some calculated risks and go make plays. Sara dropped a couple times and went and made some big plays down the stretch for us. But I loved Grace's mindset tonight, you could tell she was not going to be denied. I've seen that look a lot, and I knew she wanted to lead us throughout the 40 minutes. I thought Mack has played so well for us all season long and was really good. These guys will tell you they had a lot of help tonight from their teammates and it's a great win against a really, really great opponent that we have a tremendous amount of respect for."

UP NEXT
Indiana heads to Columbus to face No. 13 Ohio State on Monday night. Tipoff at The Jerome Schottenstein Center is set for 7 p.m. ET
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