On Super Bowl Sunday, Indiana women’s basketball looked far from super.
The Hoosiers struggled on both ends of the court for long periods throughout the afternoon at Minnesota. And ultimately, they couldn’t get the job done in a 66-56 loss.
The Golden Gophers (19-6, 7-6 Big Ten) led by two points at halftime, but created separation in the third quarter. Indiana (15-8, 7-5) over a five-minute stretch in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to six, but couldn’t get any closer than that.
Minnesota had lost three straight games and five of its last seven entering this contest at Williams Arena. Indiana snapped its three-game winning streak with this defeat.
IU head coach Teri Moren isn’t sure why her team’s had so much trouble generating consistency this season. The Hoosiers reeled off six straight wins in December, but they’ve gone 5-5 since the start of January.
“If I knew, boy, I’d fix it in a heartbeat,” Moren said after the game. “Our experience should be able to help us. And with the inconsistency, I wish I could figure it out, and I wish I could help them and say all the right things to them. But we’re going to keep doing what we’re doing, and that’s grinding it out with them and trying to help them.”
The Gophers completely dominated the Hoosiers in the rebounding department on Sunday, with a commanding 43-25 edge. That included 10 offensive rebounds which turned into 10 second-chance points. This was Indiana’s second-lowest team rebounding total of the entire season.
Moren credited Minnesota’s savvy in getting to so many loose balls and getting in good positions to get rebounds, but expressed frustration over her team’s effort on the glass.
“Coach (Moren) says it a lot, that rebounding has nothing to do with skill. It’s how bad you want it. And obviously, we did not want it tonight,” junior Shay Ciezki said. “That comes down to us as players wanting it more, being more physical. And it seemed like we did in the fourth quarter, but it was too late for that at that point.”
UM capitalized on lackluster IU defense, shooting 44 percent from the field on the day, with a 46 percent mark in the second half. The third quarter was particularly brutal for Indiana’s defense, as the Gophers shot 67 percent from the field. The Hoosiers held them to 25 percent in the fourth quarter, which sparked the comeback attempt.
Indiana couldn’t keep pace on the other end, shooting 38 percent from the field. Minnesota went just 2 for 11 from 3-point range, but the Hoosiers couldn’t turn that into a big enough advantage. IU really struggled with shots inside, shooting just 9 for 20 on layups.
“The missed layups is just — you can’t do that. You can’t do that on the road,” Moren said. “Those are easy layups. I had counted, and I’m not going to tell you who, but at least two kids had missed two wide-open layups. And at least three of them missed at least one layup. And you lose the ballgame by 10 points.”
Junior Shay Ciezki and senior Karoline Striplin led the Hoosiers with 12 points apiece. Graduate student Chloe Moore-McNeil shot 5 for 11 for 11 points, and she led the team with five assists.
Junior Yarden Garzon — Indiana’s leading scorer on the season — struggled on Sunday, shooting just 2 for 9 for six points. Graduate student Sydney Parrish also had a rough game, with a 2-for-10 clip and seven points. She did grab a team-high six rebounds.
Indiana is back in action on Wednesday at Michigan.
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