ALBANY, N.Y. – Indiana stormed back in the second half, but simply ran out of time against No. 1 overall seed South Carolina. The Hoosiers dropped the Sweet Sixteen matchup 79-75, but in doing so they showed what Indiana women’s basketball should be known for nationally – their toughness.
This fortitude was shown in the way Indiana responded after going down as much as 22 points with 7:30 left in the third quarter after a Kamilla Cardoso layup. A Yarden Garzon four-point play that sparked a second-half charge that brought the Hoosiers back into this one.
Sydney Parrish said this rally was simply because Indiana is a tough team and wasn’t going to go quietly into the night.
“You know, we could have given up after halftime and it could have been a really ugly game but we’re fighters and I think we showed that tonight,” Parrish said.
Parrish led that fighting spirit in the third quarter and then continued throughout the rest of the team in the second half, which allowed them to outscore the Gamecocks 43-30 in the second half. She scored a team-high 21 points, shooting 5-for-10 from distance.
Despite Indiana knocking seven 3s down in the second half, it was the shot-making ability of South Carolina’s Raven Johnson in the game’s final minute that sealed this one. Her 3-pointer with 53 seconds extended the Gamecock’s lead to five.
South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley said they wanted to get the ball to Cardoso in the moment, but Johnson was so wide open it made sense to give the ball to the 35.3 percent 3-point shooter.
“She shot it in rhythm and when it’s like that good, bad or indifferent, it is a good shot to take,” Staley said.
With the loss, Mackenzie Holmes’s career as a Hoosier is complete. During her time wearing the Indiana script, she became the program’s all-time leading scorer, the program’s winningest player (123 victories), helped lead them to three Sweet Sixteens, and was vital in the program capturing its first Big Ten title since 1983 last season.
Holmes, who scored 12 points Friday, not only had an impact on IU, but the school had a big impact on her.
“I loved being a Hoosier and loved every second, so I just pray that every student-athlete gets to feel the way I feel about a school because they deserve it, it’s an amazing feeling,” Holmes said.
Despite the difficult end to a successful year, Indiana head coach Teri Moren wants her players who are coming back next year to use this game as a sign of what they can accomplish but also to motivate them.
“Those guys that are coming back, this is a great experience for them,” Moren said. “It needs to sting, it needs to hurt a little bit….I want our kids as I said to them to walk out with their heads held high, but I want it (the game) to bother them.”
