An already challenging season for Indiana women’s basketball hit an even higher difficulty level Thursday.
Senior Shay Ciezki has not only been IU’s top player this year; she’s been one of best in the Big Ten and the country. But the guard rolled her ankle during shootaround ahead of Indiana’s game at USC, and she was unable to play on it. Jerni Kiaku started in her place, leaving the team in a tough spot at the Galen Center.
But the Hoosiers still fought hard all night. They held a halftime lead without their star player, and hung in this game the whole way. But they ultimately came up short, in a 79-73 defeat.
Indiana (14-12, 3-11 Big Ten) struggled with some familiar issues on Thursday. Teri Moren’s team committed 19 turnovers, with 15 coming in the second half — and USC (16-9, 8-6) scored 21 points off those giveaways. And the Hoosiers also ran into foul trouble, which caused problems given their thin depth. Three players fouled out in the fourth quarter, and all six players who saw significant action finished with at least three fouls.
Ciezki’s absence left a major void in IU’s lineup. She’s averaged 24.1 points per game this season, which leads the Big Ten and ranks fourth in the country. And the former Penn State transfer has scored all those points with remarkable efficiency, shooting 54 percent from the field, 47 percent from 3-point range, and 91 percent at the foul line. Ciezki would set a national record for the highest scoring average by anyone to join the elusive 50/40/90 club.
All of that’s to say, Shay Ciezki has been a vitally important piece for the Hoosiers this season.
Kiaku filled in admirably in her first start of the season, chipping in nine points, six rebounds, and five assists.
But it was freshman Maya Makalusky who really stepped up in Ciezki’s place. The Fishers, Ind. native had a massive game, scoring a career-high 29 points on 9-of-15 shooting, including a 5-for-10 mark from 3-point range. She also grabbed six rebounds. Makalusky scored 13 points in the fourth quarter, doing everything she could to keep the Hoosiers in the game.
With Ciezki and Zania Socka-Nguemen out, Indiana had only one player on the court Thursday averaging double-figure scoring this season (Lenée Beaumont). But the team still had four players score at least 10 points: Makalusky, Beaumont (10 points), Edessa Noyan (12 points, with a team-high eight rebounds), and Nevaeh Caffey (11 points).
IU remains in a fight to make the Big Ten Tournament, with the bottom three in the conference standings missing out. The Hoosiers sit in 14th after this loss, only a half game ahead of 16th-place Northwestern.
Indiana will stay out west and take on No. 2 UCLA on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET.
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