The Big Ten truly waits for no one and the Indiana women’s basketball team felt that in a big way after the beatdown they suffered in Iowa City. However, the ‘up next’ mentality helped the Hoosiers get back on track with a convincing 85-62 win over a tough Minnesota team.
Why?
All-American Mackenzie Holmes put together an incredibly efficient performance and fellow fifth-year Sara Scalia had one of her best conference games against her former team.
“We hate losing more than we’d like to win…that loss really woke us up,” said Holmes, who had 32 points on 15-for-17 shooting in the Hoosiers’ win over Minnesota.
Holmes set a season high for points in a game this season and was only a bucket away from setting a new career high which currently stands at 33 points.
“I know my teammates are going to look for me and find me regardless,” Holmes said.
This was the 11th time this season that Holmes had 20+ points in a game and the second time at 30+. Nearly everything went right for the grad student who had her second-highest field goal percentage of the season (88%) which trailed only the season opener against Eastern Illinois where Holmes shot 9-for-10 (90%) from the field.
“Monday we came in, ready to work, had some tough film to watch, but we knew we’re going to make it better and we did,” Holmes said.
Now as for Scalia, this game certainly had some more external factors as she was facing her former team for only the second time since her transfer.
Last season, despite the win, Scalia had a not-so-warm homecoming with a measly 10-point performance on 3-for-10 shooting from the field in Minneapolis.
This time around however, Scalia ramped it up and put together one of her best performances in Big Ten play in her two seasons at Indiana so far.
“That was extremely important…we have so much confidence in her so it was great to see some go in tonight,” Indiana head coach Teri Moren said.
Scalia finished the evening with 22 points on 5-for-11 shooting from downtown where 17 of those points came in the first half alone.
“It’s special for me for sure…but I was happy to go in and come away with one,” Scalia said.
It was no secret that Big Ten play had been rough for Scalia this season as after a terrific 50.7% clip from deep in non-conference play, the sharpshooter was 29% from 3 in the six previous Big Ten games.
That was only the third conference game that Scalia had shot above 40% from either the floor or 3 and it is clear that this Hoosier team carries some weight with Scalia’s performances.
The Hoosiers have won all three games that Scalia shoots 40% or better in conference play and done so by an average margin of 22 points. Indiana is 3-1 on the flip side of the mark with the three wins being an average of eight points and the lone loss the most recent Iowa blowout.
Final Thoughts
A performance like this from Holmes is almost the norm at this point in her career as she continues to be one of the most dominant paint presences at such an efficient clip.
As for Scalia, she won’t necessarily always need to drop a 20-bomb on teams, but her impact on the court with experience, shooting, and overall basketball IQ elevate this Hoosier team to a level that can truly compete for back-to-back Big Ten Championships.
