BLOOMINGTON — After a rough performance for her IU women’s basketball team, head coach Teri Moren challenged her player leadership.
The Hoosiers defeated Marshall 57-51 on Tuesday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, but they didn’t look particularly good in doing so. IU scored just 0.826 points per possession, shot 11 for 22 on layups, and committed 28 turnovers — its most in a game since 2016.
Indiana suffered some similarly bad games early last season, and Moren and some players have acknowledged that the group didn’t handle those letdowns well. Last year’s team allowed those issues to fester and compound into further problems, part of what led to two losses in the first three games and three in the first seven.
This year’s squad is very new and inexperienced, with only one returning starter and just five players total back from last season. Senior Shay Ciezki — the returning starter — and redshirt sophomore Lenée Beaumont have stepped into leadership roles for the Hoosiers. At the beginning of official practice, Beaumont referenced last year’s tough start and knew they needed to avoid it this year.
This team is still jelling and figuring things out, and Moren said there will be growing pains with a young group. But IU’s coach knows she needs her player leadership to step up to help get the team through this off-night.
“Shay has to become more of a vocal leader. She can say what she wants about, ‘We lead by example, Beau and I, with our work ethic, and that.’ But I do think that Shay has to be more of a vocal leader. Beau has to get outside of her head. When she has nights like this, she’s going to have to mature quickly for us because we’re depending on her,” Moren said after the game. “We just can’t allow one mistake to turn into another one, and I think that’s a message for all of them.”
Beaumont shot 4 for 8 from the field for 10 points, and she added six rebounds and a team-high four assists. But she had some defensive lapses, appeared out of position on some offensive sets, and — most significantly — committed seven turnovers.
The guard missed all of last season with a knee injury, after playing a limited role in 2023-24 as a true freshman. But Beaumont, a former four-star recruit, has a lot of potential, and Moren has expressed confidence in her as this season’s begun.
But Tuesday’s performance will be an obstacle for Beaumont to overcome, if she’s to become the player and leader Indiana wants — and needs — her to be.
“We really feel like Beau gives us a very good decision-maker, usually. Tonight, not being her night,” Moren said. “She was a victim of allowing one mistake to become another mistake, to become another mistake, and then she just couldn’t get out of her own way.”
Beaumont wasn’t the lone culprit against Marshall, though. Freshman guard Nevaeh Caffey has garnered praise for her maturity and ability, as she earned a spot in the starting lineup. But she racked up six turnovers on Tuesday. Ciezki was one of the few bright spots for IU in the win, as she grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds to go along with 13 points, for her first career double-double. But she, too, gave away five turnovers. Sophomore center Zania Socka-Nguemen also recorded a double-double, but had four turnovers. Sophomore guard Phoenix Stotijn committed four turnovers, as well.
Marshall caused problems for Indiana with both a press defense and a 2-3 zone. Press, in particular, has given the Hoosiers trouble for several years now. And they know they’re likely to keep seeing it until they show they can beat it consistently.
“We’re going to see different type of coverages, especially with the press, after teams watch today’s game,” Beaumont said. “And we gotta be able to work around whatever the defense is giving us that day.”
Indiana’s response to this game could be a defining point in this season. IU has its first power-conference opponent on deck, a road game at Florida State on Sunday. The Hoosiers return home after that to face Butler, one of the teams they lost to last November.
If Moren’s group can bounce back strong from Tuesday’s showing against the Seminoles and Bulldogs, it could invigorate the team and provide an important confidence boost heading into some key non-conference games at the end of November and eventually into Big Ten play. But if the Hoosiers repeat what happened last year and let this performance carry over into other games, they won’t have much margin for error the rest of the season.
IU didn’t handle this situation well a year ago. Moren and her staff — along with Ciezki and Beaumont — need to make sure things go differently this time.
“I think first and foremost, we gotta stay together. It’s gonna be so easy to look the other way, point fingers, whatever it may be. But I know the people we have in our locker room are high-character people, and obviously the staff does a phenomenal job of filling us with confidence,” Beaumont said. “I have no worries going forward that we’re going to have a different type of mindset. We know we have areas of improvement, and we’re going to get better at that. But it starts with — tomorrow we have off, but Thursday, we gotta have a great practice. And that’s just gonna be the mindset going forward.”
For complete coverage of IU women’s basketball, GO HERE.
The Daily Hoosier –“Where Indiana fans assemble when they’re not at Assembly”
- Find us on Instagram, X, and Facebook
- Seven ways to support completely free IU coverage at no cost to you.
