Indiana women’s basketball beat Louisiana-Monroe 98-54 Thursday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington.
Below are three quick reasons why the Hoosiers won, along with highlights, final stats, and a few quotes.
IU (9-2) is back in action on Sunday at home against Eastern Michigan.
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Three quick reasons why Indiana beat ULM
1. Overcoming thin depth: Indiana center Zania Socka-Nguemen missed her fourth straight game with a lower body injury. But she wasn’t alone this time: guard Jerni Kiaku and forward Faith Wiseman were also unavailable. Neither Wiseman nor Kiaku have seen extensive action this season, but Wiseman’s absence, in particular, left Teri Moren without many options in the frontcourt. The Hoosiers utilized a seven-player rotation for most of the game; Edessa Noyan played 30 minutes for the second consecutive contest, and Maya Makalusky stepped in at the 5 when the Virginia transfer went to the bench. IU struggled with rebounding, as the Warhawks finished with a 37-33 advantage — they grabbed a whopping 19 offensive rebounds, and Indiana got only one. But the Hoosiers overcame that and got the job done.
2. A usual suspect, and a pleasant surprise: Shay Ciezki continued her dominant start to the 2025-26 season. The senior entered this game seventh in the nation with 24.3 points per game, the top mark in the Big Ten. Ciezki kept it rolling with 31 points on 12-for-17 shooting, with a 3-for-4 3-point clip. Those sorts of performances are becoming regular for the Penn State transfer. But Makalusky may be the bigger story from this game. Moren inserted the freshman into the starting lineup, replacing Valentyna Kadlecova, and she rewarded that faith. Makalusky turned in the best game of her young career, shooting 8 for 12 from the field and 6 for 10 from 3-point range for 22 points, with four rebounds, three assists, a block, and two steals. If the Fishers, Ind. native can play like that consistently, she could change Indiana’s long-term outlook this year.
3. Good defense: ULM fired off 72 field goal attempts on Thursday, the most by an IU opponent since Oklahoma in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. But the Warhawks made only 20 of those tries, giving them the lowest field goal percentage by an IU opponent so far this season. Despite the high amount of Warhawk offensive rebounds, Indiana did a good job forcing them into tough looks throughout the game. The Hoosiers also forced 17 turnovers; Kadlecova, Makalusky, and Nevaeh Caffey each had two steals.
Final stats
Highlights
Quotable
Teri Moren on starting Maya Makalusky: “We needed to do somethingto mix it up a little bit. They all are going to have to play.Val’s going to have to continue to play, and it might not be the last time that we mix up the lineup again. … What I asked her to do before the game was just be a great rebounder for us. I said, ‘We need you to guard and defend, and we need you to rebound.’ The threes were just sort of icing on the cake from her performance. But I think she’s a kid that, (when) she sees that thing go in the way it did tonight, I think that elevates every aspect of her game.”
Maya Makalusky on what she’s learned so far at IU: “I feel like I’ve definitely learned more grit. I thought I came in with a lot of grit, but I’ve also learned to count on my teammates. It’s OK to ask questions, it’s OK to ask for help. And I think I’ve slowly gained confidence and grit through that. But realizing that it’s OK to lean on your coaches and your teammates and ask questions and make mistakes.
Shay Ciezki on playing shorthanded: “We just knew that everyone had to step up. Everyone matters. Everyone has a role that they need to play in order for us to be successful. And that was just carried out in practice, making sure that next man has to step up. Maya was playing the 5 a little bit today. She was able to learn the plays in a couple days in that position. So just making sure that we were trusting each other the whole way. We were leaning on each other. Asking each other questions throughout the game. Just knowing that it’s a next-man mentality, and it’s just how the season goes. You’re gonna have some injured players. Some people are gonna be sick. It’s just the way the season goes. So just making sure that we’re ready for that.”
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