Indiana Women Lose 73-63 At No. 22 Michigan State

EAST LANSING, Mich. – After a victory over No. 8 Ohio State on Thursday, Indiana’s women’s basketball team was hoping to build on that momentum with a road victory at No. 22 Michigan State on Sunday.

However, a problem that has cropped up at times for the Hoosiers this season – inconsistent scoring – reared its head again. The Hoosiers eventually got their scoring going, but by the time they did it was too late. Michigan State had enough of a gap to blunt a late Indiana charge as the Spartans won 73-65 at Breslin Center.

Chloe Moore-McNeil led Indiana with 15 points. Karoline Striplin had 14 points and Shay Ciezki and Yarden Garzon each had 13 points, but offensive production was not consistent throughout the game.

Indiana’s 33.3% first half shooting doomed them against the Spartans. So did turnovers. Indiana had 10 of its 18 turnovers in the first half. Four different Hoosiers had at least three turnovers.

“I’m a little bit frustrated with the turnovers. A lot of them were our fault, simply being careless. I had some critical turnovers in critical moments,” Indiana point guard Chloe Moore-McNeil said.

Indiana coach Teri Moren was frustrated with the turnovers.

“We’ve had plenty of conversations whether it’s together or whether with their guard or post coach. Collectively, all of it. They’ve heard it. At this point, it’s like a recorder,” Moren said as she motioned with her finger as if she was pressing play on a tape recorder.

After Indiana (17-10, 9-7) took an early 10-3 lead, scoring dried up. The Hoosiers would miss their next seven shots. Michigan State (20-7, 10-6) finished the first quarter with a 12-0 run to take a 15-10 lead.

The Hoosiers re-took the lead briefly at the start of the second quarter, but couldn’t sustain their success. A 6-0 Michigan State run flipped the momentum back to the Spartans as Michigan State led 32-24 at halftime.

The Hoosiers shot 33% in the first half. Karoline Striplin and Chloe Moore-McNeil were the only Hoosiers who made 50% of their shots.

“I think we were a little bit passive at times, especially in the first half. Which should never be the case, but we didn’t see a few shots go in, so we kind of drew back on being aggressive,” Moore-McNeil said.

Indiana was 5 of 13 from the field in the third quarter, and Michigan State led by as much as 13 in the quarter.

The Hoosiers finally got on-track in the final period. Michigan State reached a peak lead of 15 early in the fourth quarter and led 59-45 with 7:05 left when Indiana finally began to come back.

A layup by Yarden Garzon, followed by a jumper and 3-pointers by Shay Ciezki and Sydney Parrish, helped Indiana cut its deficit to 59-55 with 3:45 left.

The comeback was good, but Moren felt it was also a bit late and that Indiana needed to pull itself out of the fire earlier. She pointed to missed early shots creating doubt in the players’ minds.

“We started to get a little bit of the fight when Syd hits a three, Shay hits a three. You don’t wait for those moments. When things are going well, you have to figure out how to turn the tide and not wait for something like that individually and together,” Moren said.

However, a 3-pointer by Michigan State’s Theryn Hallock ended the Indiana rally. Michigan State was able to restore a double-digit advantage before settling for the final eight-point margin.

Grace Vanslooten led Michigan State with 17 points. Hallock and Jocelyn Tate each had 16 points.

For Indiana, it was its fourth loss in its last five road games.

“Good teams win at home; great teams win on the road. I’d love to be able to bottle it up and bring it with us, but that’s not how it works,” Moren said. “You have to have the same energy on the road as you do at home.”

Indiana will host No. 21 Maryland on Thursday.

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