WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — With the Barn Burner Trophy on the line, Indiana women’s basketball was locked in a barn-burner of a game.
The 16th-ranked Hoosiers faced a tough test from rival Purdue in a packed and boisterous Mackey Arena. But they were able to get the job done, coming away with a 74-68 win. Indiana (16-2, 7-1 Big Ten) extended its winning streak over the Boilermakers (9-9, 2-5 Big Ten) to 10 games.
IU senior guard Sydney Parrish missed the game with an injury — she was wearing a walking boot on her right leg and using crutches to move around. The exact nature of her injury is unknown. Sophomore Lexus Bargesser started in her place.
Without Parrish, Indiana needed Sara Scalia, Chloe Moore-McNeil, and Yarden Garzon to play well and fill the void. And those three all stepped up — but Moore-McNeil, in particular, flourished.
The point guard has come out playing more aggressively since Big Ten play restarted, and she continued that trend Sunday. She scored a career-high 20 points on a 7-of-14 line, and contributed the sort of shot-creating — both for herself and for teammates — in ways IU has desperately needed. the senior dished a team-high four assists, with two turnovers. She also shot 3 for 5 from 3-point range.
Garzon turned in one of her better outside shooting performances of the season, tying a season-high with five made threes. She went 5 for 9 from the field overall, with just one attempt inside the 3-point arc, and finished with 17 points. But she also committed a team-high six turnovers.
Scalia hit her typical barrage of 3-pointers, shooting 6 for 9 from beyond the arc. She finished with 20 points.
Indiana led at halftime, 39-37. The first quarter was an offensive onslaught from both teams, but especially the Boilermakers. They scored 29 points in just that opening period, by attacking IU with straight line drives to the basket and shooting 12 for 19 from the field. But the Hoosiers turned it around in the second quarter, holding Purdue to just eight points.
Mackenzie Holmes had a quieter first half, with just six points. She struggled — by her standards — to really get rolling offensively. But she hit her first 3-pointer of the season in a big spot in the fourth quarter, breaking a tie to give Indiana a 59-56 lead. The graduate student finished with 15 points on a 6-for-7 clip. Holmes also became the sixth player in program history to grab 900 career rebounds.
Indiana is back in action on Sunday against Northwestern in Bloomington.
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