ACC/Big Ten Challenge returns!
Indiana women’s basketball avenged its most lopsided loss of 2023-24 this afternoon with a 79-66 win over No. 24 Stanford in Assembly Hall. The win halts the Hoosiers’ two-game skid and moves the team’s record to 2-2 on the year.
Here’s three things:
CMM LEADS THE O
Indiana averaged just 57 points across its early season losses to Harvard and Butler. The Hoosier offense was stagnant for stretches of both of those games and looked nothing like the Death Star that consistently hung 80+ on opponents over the past few years.
Roster turnover has created that stark contrast. The Death Star teams had primary scorers like Grace Berger, Mackenzie Holmes, and Sara Scalia while this year’s squad doesn’t have a clear top offensive threat.
Those three women were also fantastic leaders for Indiana. Chloe Moore-McNeil’s been excellent in that regard as well—the captain knew she had to be a scorer today and became one.
Moore-McNeil scored a season-high 21 points off 7-11 (.636) shooting from the field against Stanford.
The fifth-year guard asserted herself as Indiana’s offensive focal point by taking three of the Hoosiers’ first four shot attempts. Moore-McNeil led all scorers with ten points to put Indiana up, 24-22 after one quarter.
CMM’s pair of first-quarter threes were especially big as they came as tone-setting counter punches that proved Indiana could hang with the Cardinal.
PLAYING FIVE GUARDS
Interior scoring has been the Hoosiers’ biggest struggle in the post-Mackenzie Holmes era.
The Hoosiers are not getting consistent points from their traditional posts, so when starting center Lilly Meister got into foul trouble early in the second half, head coach Teri Moren left backup forward Karoline Striplin on the bench in favor of a fifth guard.
6-3 junior Yarden Garzon, IU’s tallest guard, played the five for most of the second half and was successful enough in the paint. Garzon led Indiana with eight rebounds and her post presence gave Indiana’s 3-point threats enough room to operate on the outside. Garzon, whose post game is complementary to her shooting, went 4-7 (.571) from deep herself as Indiana set a season high with nine made triples.
Garzon is most useful on the perimeter. She’s not the long-term fix down low but it’s great to know that Indiana can roll out five guards when it needs a jump. Doing so will get even easier when ball-dominant guards Lexus Bargesser and Lenée Beaumont return from injury.
CHEF CIEZKI
Broad strokes painted Penn State transfer Shay Ciezki as little more than a 3-point shooter this summer. The junior guard proved her lethalness from the midrange with a 19-point, 7-13 FG (.539) performance in her breakout game as a Hoosier.
Indiana wants to play fast, and Ciezki was a big part of that today. The former Nittany Lion was decisive with the ball and played confidently. She hit multiple pretty 15-footers and used great court awareness to hit open teammates for knockdown shots. A cross-court, soccer-keeper-style hurl to Chloe Moore-McNeil stands out there.
Ciezki is a career starter in the Big Ten and works extremely hard. Tonight was likely the first of many Ciezki gems in candystripes.
BONUS SHOUTOUT: Rotation guard Julianna LaMendola was awesome off the bench today and drew multiple offensive fouls while defending. Jules taking a charge is becoming one of this team’s most effective “juice” plays… she plays with great energy.