Indiana Rides Yarden Garzon’s Career High Scoring To Defeat Washington 73-70

SEATTLE – Indiana’s women’s basketball team traveled a long way to go on a couple of roller coaster rides in the last three days.

On its road trip to the Pacific Northwest, Indiana had double-digit leads at both Oregon and Washington. Last Friday, Indiana let a 10-point second-half lead slip away in a seven-point loss.

On Monday, the roller coaster ride was even more pronounced. A nine-point first-half lead had disappeared by halftime, only to have Indiana rise again to take a 14-point advantage early in the fourth quarter against the Huskies.

That lead melted away too.

Indiana appeared to be in jeopardy of its fourth straight loss as the host Huskies roared to the finish, but this time the Hoosiers were committed to a different outcome.

“We were just desperate to win. Doesn’t matter how, it doesn’t matter who is good. We were just desperate to win,” Indiana guard Yarden Garzon said.

Indiana made the plays down the stretch it needed to get that win. A 3-pointer by Sydney Parrish with 1:25 left put Indiana up three and the Hoosiers survived a last-second, game-tying miss by the Huskies to earn a wild 73-70 Big Ten Conference victory at Alaska Airlines Arena.

Win out west.

Recapping our victory in Seattle. 🎥 pic.twitter.com/BuamWsCP72
— Indiana Women’s Basketball (@IndianaWBB) January 28, 2025

Garzon was the major reason why Indiana was able to end its three-game losing streak and get the 1-1 split on its West Coast trip. The junior scored a career-high 35 points on 13 of 18 shooting. She also joined the 1,000-point club for the Hoosiers.

It was a big way to break out of a two-game mini-slump. Garzon was 7 of 31 in Indiana’s previous two games.

“I felt like I didn’t change a thing. I tried to take my shots before the game as usual and I’m trying to be as consistent as I can. This night it fell in and I hope it will continue to fall in,” Garzon said.

Garzon’s 35-point effort left her one point off a top 10 scoring performance in school history. Her 13 made field goals is tied with three other players for the fifth-best single-game total in Indiana history. Mackenzie Holmes most recently hit that high mark in 2020.

Garzon came out of both halves red hot. She made her first five shots in each half.

“Yarden was terrific – finally got back on track,” Indiana coach Teri Moren said.

Moren said she didn’t do much between Friday’s loss at Oregon to Monday’s game at Washington in terms of helping Garzon.

“I have coached a lot of great shooters,” Moren said. “You want them to have a short memory and you don’t bring it up. It’s just like, ‘Next game, you’re going to get on track.’”

Parrish also shot the ball well as she was 6 of 10 from the floor, including 4 of 6 from 3-point range, to score 16 points. Karoline Striplin added 11 for the Hoosiers.

Indiana (13-7, 5-4) came out of the gate hot – with a lot of help from the hosts. Washington committed six turnovers before five minutes had elapsed and Indiana took advantage. Garzon had a pair of 3-pointers and Chloe Moore-McNeil added one more as Indiana took an early 10-2 lead.

Indiana’s lead would grow to nine points before Washington (13-8, 4-5) straightened itself out in the turnover department and began to reel the Hoosiers in. Indiana’s lead was 21-16 by the end of the quarter.

The turnover shoe went on the other foot in the second quarter. Indiana began to mire itself in turnovers – nine at all in the second period. Six different Hoosiers combined for the giveaways. Combined with a 2-for-9 shooting performance in the quarter and it was the recipe for trouble.

After Garzon made a 3-pointer with 7:53 left in the half, Indiana went into a deep funk. Washington finished the half with a 13-3 run, including the final six points of the half.

While Washington only officially scored seven points off of Indiana’s turnovers, they did dominate the paint. Daniels, Washington’s 6-foot-4 forward, scored eight points in the first half, part of Washington’s 20 paint points overall.

A layup by Tayra Eke with 1:15 left staked Washington to a 31-29 halftime lead. Moren called the second quarter “terrible” after the game.

Indiana shook off its first half slide and came out smoking to start the second half. The Hoosiers made their eight shots of the second half. Garzon, Parrish and Striplin were responsible for all eight of the makes.

The final four made shots were all 3-pointers – three in a row by Garzon, followed by another from Parrish. It was a 9-0 onslaught to start the half and Parrish finished it with Indiana’s final three buckets of the third quarter as Indiana surged to a 59-46 advantage.

1000 points & a new single-game career high. 😤 pic.twitter.com/qU8MTTOlTy
— Indiana Women’s Basketball (@IndianaWBB) January 28, 2025

The lead peaked at 62-48 in the final quarter before Indiana hit another wall. Washington once again worked the ball into the paint – Daniels led the Huskies with 21 points – to ignite an 11-0 run that got Washington back within a possession of the lead with 5:36 left.

Indiana pushed its advantage back to 66-59 with 4:31 left, but Washington answered with seven straight points in response as a Devin Coppinger free throw tied the game with 2:51 left.

It remained tied when Parrish hit a big 3-point bucket with 1:25 left on a feed from Garzon. After Huskies made a pair of free throws, Garzon made another two-point jumper with 53 seconds left to make it 73-70.

A turnover by the Huskies with 35 seconds left gave Indiana a chance to try to kill the game off, but Garzon missed a shot with 6 seconds remaining. Washington set up for the final shot to try to force overtime, but Hannah Stines missed from long range and the Hoosiers earned a crucial victory.

Indiana returns home as it hosts Nebraska at noon ET on Sunday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

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