Indiana was without its leading scorer on Thursday evening, but the result remained the same as the Hoosiers defeated Nebraska 72-65 at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall to move to 13-2 overall and 5-0 in the Big Ten.
The No. 6 Hoosiers were led by Grace Berger with 22 points. Aleksa Gulbe added 17. Starting center and leading scorer Mackenzie Holmes was out with a knee injury. With her out, the Hoosiers went with just six players, all of whom played at least 24 minutes.
Nicole Cardaño-Hillary shined in the first half, and ended up 13 points, 5 rebounds and two steals while also leading the Hoosiers’ defensive efforts. They would lead 44-31 at the break.
The Hoosiers stretched the lead to as many as 17 in the third, and Indiana kept Nebraska at bay from there.
Indiana found out on Thursday morning they would be without Holmes, who averages 17.9 per contest.
“It started off as a tough morning, finding out that Mack wasn’t going to be available,” head coach Teri Moren said.
“They didn’t flinch, they stepped up to the task at hand tonight in a big-time kind of way. The response we got from these guys after getting some news today that we weren’t expecting, give our kids just a ton of credit.”
NOTABLE
- The Hoosiers are now 5-0 in the Big Ten, which is their best conference start in program history.
- Overall Indiana is on an eight-game winning streak.
- Indiana is leading the Big Ten defensively in opponent points per game. That number now stands at 57.1 points per game. The Hoosiers have held every opponent under 70 points this season.
- The Hoosiers held Nebraska well below their season scoring average of 82.4 points per game as they gave up 65 points to Nebraska.
- Kiandra Browne got her first career start and played a career-high 25 minutes. She scored two points and added five rebounds, one assist and two steals.
- Five of the six players that saw action in the game registered at least two steals.
UP NEXT
The Hoosiers travel to Purdue on Sunday in a nationally televised game. Tip time inside Mackey Arena is set for 2 p.m. ET on FS1.
🎥 Battled it out. 💪 pic.twitter.com/BUgKdYym2H
— Indiana Women’s Basketball (@IndianaWBB) January 14, 2022
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