They’re better than you and no longer need to prove it.
#14 Indiana women’s basketball played its best game of the season and moved to 4-0 in Big Ten play earlier this afternoon with a 91-69 beatdown of Nebraska in Lincoln.
The victory extends Indiana’s winning streak to twelve straight games and moves the Hoosiers into a tie with #4 Iowa atop the Big Ten. Four Indiana players scored in double figures in the win.
Here’s three things:
Sydney Parrish’s heater continues
Parrish had her finest quarter as a Hoosier on Thursday and scored 14 points in the first ten minutes against Michigan. She stayed hot today with another dozen points off 4-for-4 shooting from the arc in quarter number one.
Unlike versus the Wolverines, however, Parrish stayed out of foul trouble today and logged 28 minutes of game time. The senior guard finished with a season-high 20 points off 7-11 (64%) shooting and was all over the floor defensively.
Six rebounds, a block, a steal, an assist, you name it. Parrish checked every box on the stat sheet today with a couple of the gritty hustle plays she’s known for to boot.
Taking charges is her M.O. but don’t let anyone tell you Parrish isn’t every bit as much of a deep threat as Sara Scalia and Yarden Garzon.
The former Indiana Miss Basketball is 9-11 (82%) from three in her last two games. Most well-rounded player on the roster? My money says so.
Finding flow
We’ve seen Indiana throttle legit competition under Teri Moren dozens of times now but today felt different.
The Hoosiers were locked in on their opponent like never before. It was a dozen minds entering a flow state while working on the same task. It was beautiful in a matter-of-fact sort of way. Indiana made an incredibly complex game seem simple.
Oh, the Cornhuskers entered the game with the conference’s best perimeter defense? That’s fine, we’ll just shoot more threes in transition.
Oh, we got lost on the pick ‘n roll? That’s fine. Chloe Moore-McNeil will just read the entry pass perfectly and hit a three on the other end with such conviction the color commentator audibly groans.
Oh, Nebraska’s post is in foul trouble? Let’s feed Mackenzie Holmes (22 points, six rebounds) at will. She’ll balloon our second half lead from twelve to nineteen with buckets on three straight possessions.
Indiana’s ball movement was great today. The Hoosiers recorded 22 assists and let difficult passes and shots fly with a little extra zip because of how focused they were. There were no wasted movements by anyone wearing crimson on the floor today.
Indiana still had their fun, don’t get me wrong, but this was bully ball without the aggression. I will be thinking about this performance a lot as the season progresses.
Winning on the road
Indiana’s had some difficulty winning on the road this year.
The Hoosiers were thoroughly outplayed by Stanford in a 96-64 loss in Palo Alto and also struggled to get by Maine in Portland. An away game against a team as athletic and talented as Nebraska seemed daunting a day ago.
Pinnacle Bank Arena is an especially tough barn to play in, too. As Meghan McKeown alluded on the broadcast, Nebraska’s received incredible fan support for decades and the Cornhusker faithful give their squad a legit edge.
Indiana was never rattled though. The crowd came into play midway through the third when an Annika Stewart triple pulled Nebraska within seven but the Hoosier vets immediately shut it down.
Sara Scalia (19 points, seven assists) stopped the bleeding with a quick three on the other end before Chloe Moore-McNeil (16 points, 6-7 shooting) picked off a Jaz Shelley pass for a pick six on the ‘Huskers next possession. The game all but ended with Moore-McNeil’s lefty lay-in.
With trips to Iowa and Purdue on the docket in the next two weeks, fans will sleep well tonight knowing the Hoosiers can close out on the road.