With 1:46 left in Sunday’s game, graduate senior guard Chloe Moore-McNeil dove to the ground to steal the ball from Nebraska’s freshman guard Britt Prince. She then found junior guard Yarden Garzon, who found a running graduate senior guard, Sydney Parrish, to lead to an easy breakaway layup and cap off a victory for the Hoosiers.
That play describes the type of day that Indiana had.
Nebraska came into Assembly Hall Sunday afternoon on a five-game winning streak in conference play. However, Indiana had a response that ultimately ended that streak with a 76-60 win.
The last time Indiana lost four consecutive games at home was in the 2012-2013 season, and heading into Sunday's game, the Hoosiers faced the possibility of breaking that statistic. But with arguably its most complete game of conference play thus far, Indiana put up a gritty fight against a hot Cornhuskers team.
“It's how it should look for us,” head coach Teri Moren said. “This is a talented group, and when they can put it all together with taking care of the ball, you get 25 assists, you get more shot attempts because you're taking care of the ball. It's much easier to win games when you're doing those things.”
It was a high-tempo pace all game, but Indiana controlled it. The Hoosier's energy matched what the crowd of Assembly Hall was giving them. Defense, specifically for Indiana, was supreme. Nebraska leads the Big Ten in 3-point attempts per game, and Indiana made it their mission to limit the perimeter.
As a team, Indiana recorded 10 steals, led by senior forward Karoline Striplin and Moore-McNeil with four apiece. The Cornhuskers also recorded 17 turnovers, and the Hoosiers turned that into 15 points.
In moments where Nebraska began to creep back into the game, Indiana maintained control. Senior center Alexis Markowski averaged 17.4 points and 7.7 rebounds over the last seven games for Nebraska. Yet, the Hoosiers held her to eight points and three rebounds with three turnovers as well.
Nebraska began to get lazy on offense in the third quarter, where some of their turnovers were simply passes directed toward under the basket that ended up out of bounds. Playing in foul trouble, freshman center Petra Bozan stepped up, contributing 12 points and three rebounds for Nebraska in the hopes of cutting down the lead.
The ball movement by Indiana was almost flawless, with a team total of 25 assists and every player constantly looking to move the ball around to find efficient shots. While they also shot the ball very well from the perimeter at 43%, no player was hesitant to take the ball into the paint and drive on their defender as they put up 22 points in the paint.
Garzon and Moore-McNeil were honored before the game for joining the 1,000-point club for Indiana women's basketball, and they both lit up behind the 3-point line. Garzon finished with 19 points on five 3-pointers, and Moore-McNeil had 15 points on 4-for-5 shooting from 3. The Hoosiers tied a season-high of 13 3-pointers in the win.
But Moore-McNeil did it all for Indiana as she also finished with seven rebounds, seven assists, four steals and one block in 34 minutes of work on the court.
“If she can put back-to-back performances together like that every night, we're a much better basketball team,” Moren said.
Indiana had four players in double figures, which led to the momentum of the win.
Now Indiana (14-7, Big Ten 6-4) will host Rutgers (9-13, Big Ten 1-10) on Thursday night with tipoff at 6 p.m.
