Indiana women’s basketball dug itself a hole early on Wednesday at Rutgers.
But unlike so many other such instances this season, Teri Moren’s team climbed out of it.
The Hoosiers overcame a double-digit deficit at Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J. to earn a 79-69 win. This is their second straight victory, and it secures a winning record in February. IU 16-13, 5-12 Big Ten) has now won five of its last seven games.
Indiana committed nine turnovers in the first quarter and 14 in the first half, which allowed Rutgers (9-19, 1-16) to take control of the game. The Scarlet Knights led by 10 points on multiple occasions, as the Hoosiers just couldn’t stay out of their own way.
Moren made it very clear to her players in the halftime locker room that they needed to take better care of the ball.
“It was just a hard conversation at halftime about some of the careless things that we were doing. Coming across the timeline, trying to punch that thing in to Edessa (Noyan). … Edessa wasn’t even ready for the ball. They were very uncharacteristic things,” Moren said after the game. “And then get into halftime, where we could just say, ‘Look, you guys gotta be so much stronger with the ball. They can’t speed you up. And we gotta stop doing the things that are uncharacteristic of us and our offense.'”
The message resonated. IU committed only four turnovers in the second half. The Hoosiers don’t win this game without flipping that switch.
Indiana particularly turned things up a notch in the fourth quarter. Rutgers took a 56-52 lead into the final period, but IU saved its best basketball for the end of the game. The Hoosiers shot 60 percent from the floor in the fourth quarter, out-rebounded Rutgers 9-3, and pulled away with a 15-4 run over the last five minutes.
Senior Shay Ciezki has stepped up for the Hoosiers all season, and she delivered yet again on Wednesday. The guard led IU with 21 points on the night, with eight coming in the fourth quarter.
The later the game gets, the bigger Ciezki’s presence becomes.
“I just keep saying things in my head, making sure that I’m always locked in, each play,” Ciezki said. “I think I have this next-play mentality. Something doesn’t go right one play, I’m automatically thinking about, ‘How can I help the team the next play?’ I think that just heightens each quarter.”
Noyan played a big role in this win, as well. The Virginia transfer grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds, accounting for nearly half of IU’s production on the glass.
Freshman Maya Makalusky recorded her fourth consecutive game in double-figure scoring, shooting 4 for 9 from the field — all on 3-point attempts — for 19 points. Redshirt sophomore Lenée Beaumont chipped in 12 points and a team-high four assists. And senior Jerni Kiaku scored five big points in the fourth quarter, including a 3-point play with a layup and a foul shot that tied the game.
IU had a chance to lock up a Big Ten Tournament berth with a victory and a Penn State loss. But the Nittany Lions, who tipped off an hour before the Hoosiers, defeated USC, leaving Indiana unable to clinch. The Hoosiers will host PSU in the regular-season finale on Saturday, looking to punch their ticket to Indianapolis.
Moren acknowledged this team has fallen short of the standard her program had set with six straight NCAA Tournament appearances and several runs to the second weekend. But she said IU’s players have remained focused on getting into the Big Ten Tournament, and then if and when that happens, the season resets and the team would have an opportunity to make a run.
“I think we could all agree, it’s not the standard for our program. But nonetheless, there’s still a lot of basketball to be played. And we’re gonna approach every game like it’s the most important game,” Moren said. “That’s how we’re gonna go about whatever’s next for us. And the next most important game is Penn State.”
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