Indiana women’s basketball opened Big Ten play on a rough note.
The Hoosiers suffered a lopsided defeat Saturday at Illinois, as the Fighting Illini ran away with a 78-57 win in Champaign, Ill.. IU (8-2, 0-1 Big Ten) has now lost three straight games to Illinois (8-1, 1-0).
Indiana fell way behind early at State Farm Center, trailing 28-12 after the first quarter. Illinois led by double digits less than five minutes into the game, and IU just couldn’t stop the bleeding. By the end of the third quarter, the Illini led by 36 points.
The Hoosiers opened the final period on a 14-2 run to make the score a little less bleak.
But the statistics show just how ugly Saturday was. IU shot 36 percent from the field as a team, and went 7 for 20 from 3-point range — and five of those threes came in the fourth quarter. Teri Moren’s group committed 20 turnovers, including six from redshirt sophomore Lenée Beaumont and five from senior Shay Ciezki.
And Illinois completely dominated Indiana inside. The Illini finished with a 39-30 rebounding edge, and they scored 58 points in the paint, with IU scoring just 18. The Hoosiers went 7 for 16 on layups, contributing to that issue.
Indiana sophomore center Zania Socka-Nguemen missed her third straight game with a lower body injury, and her team clearly felt her absence.
Ciezki finished with 23 points on 8-for-19 shooting, her eighth game with at least 20 points. But it wasn’t enough.
IU returns to Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall next week, facing Louisiana-Monroe on Thursday.
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