COLUMBIA, S.C. – A college basketball team only remains the same for one season. The branding, arenas and coaches can all carry over each year, but a group of 15 players only has one chance to create memories together. One chance to accomplish their goals together. One chance to win it all together.
The 2024-25 edition of Indiana women’s basketball had its chance come to a close in a 64-53 defeat to the South Carolina Gamecocks in round two of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday.
“I'm really, really grateful, really proud of the group that wore the Indiana jersey this year,” Indiana head coach Teri Moren said. “In spite of all the ups and downs, we still had some really, really special moments, great moments that we will take from this.”
Every group that wears the Indiana jersey has its own story. This year’s group saw the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. It lost to Butler. It beat Ohio State. It saw season-ending injuries. It saw new stars emerge. This group truly went through it all.
In a deafening Colonial Life Arena, packed with 12,000 South Carolina fans, Indiana had one more chance to create a special moment. The Hoosiers came out and made a statement. A team that was supposed to lose this game by 23 points, a team that was given a 4% chance to win showed up with the toughness it displayed all year.
As the Hoosiers and Gamecocks emerged on the court during lineup announcements, familiar faces met again. South Carolina ended Indiana’s season last year and had its eyes on doing it again. These were not the same teams, however. These are two brand-new teams with new goals, roles and stories battling for the very first time.
Indiana’s intensity shined early. Every player on the floor wore a face of sheer determination to win. Each wave of noise from the South Carolina crowd quickly extinguished with a made shot or forced turnover. Soon enough, the halftime buzzer sounded and Indiana jogged back to the locker room leading 26-25.
The Hoosiers held South Carolina to 4-for-17 shooting in the first quarter, 35% in the half, and forced seven turnovers. Guards Chloe Moore-McNeil and Shay Ciezki combined for 17 points and made timely buckets for the entire 20 minutes. Ciezki ended up leading the Hoosiers with 12 points and Moore-McNeil ended up with 10.
The halftime break changed everything.
South Carolina came out with a new life in the third quarter. The Gamecocks caught fire with seven consecutive made shots and outscored Indiana 26-14 in the period. A 20-7 run gave South Carolina a comfortable cushion it would keep until the final buzzer.
“It was the third quarter that kind of did us in,” Moren said. “So if we did have any do overs, it would have been that third quarter, I think, maybe we could have got the outcome that we wanted.”
The season comes to a close. The players on this Indiana team will never play with each other again. Even so, they have created lifelong friendships and memories and stuck with each other through it all. For Indiana’s seniors, it is a moment of reflection.
“We competed with some of the top teams in the country, and that says a lot about our group,” senior guard Sydney Parrish said. “And we just stuck together. It's hard to stick together when times get hard.”
“I think every single one of us takes pride in wearing Indiana across our chest,” Moore-McNeil said. “Obviously, Coach Moren has turned this program around and built it from the ground up, and we created a great fanbase here.”
Indiana finishes the season 20-13 with an NCAA Tournament win under its belt. The Hoosiers won 20 games for the 10th consecutive season and won an NCAA Tournament game for the sixth season in a row. The attention turns to the next year and beyond as Indiana continues to try and build its program to new heights.
“We move forward from here and find the players that are going to thrive in our environment, thrive in our culture,” Moren said. “We look forward to what's next.”
The next Indiana women’s basketball team awaits.
