Indiana Women’s Basketball Controls Oregon To Advance In Big Ten Tournament

INDIANAPOLIS – One of the worst performances of the season for the Indiana women’s basketball team came at Oregon in January. In a low-scoring, turnover-marred game, the Hoosiers blew a fourth quarter lead and lost by seven points to the Ducks.

That performance was on the minds of the Hoosiers in their rematch with the Ducks on Thursday in the Big Ten Tournament at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. They were determined to show Oregon that they are much better than they played out west.

Then Indiana proved it. A suffocating defensive effort and consistently good shooting at key moments helped the Hoosiers overcome heavy foul trouble as the Hoosiers earned a relatively easy 78-62 victory to advance to Friday’s quarterfinal round.

“We just threw the first punch right out of the gate and never let up,” Indiana guard Sydney Parrish said.

The sense of redemption for the Hoosiers from that performance at Oregon was noticeable.

“I feel like we all remembered what happened last game. In the last quarter (at Oregon), we didn't do a good job, and we kind of lost our head, and we wanted to fix that today and come out different,” Indiana forward Yarden Garzon said. “I feel like we all felt the urge to win this game. We want to keep playing. I feel like it was a good do-over for us from last game.”

Oregon Ducks guard Deja Kelly (25) rushes past Indiana Hoosiers guard Lexus Bargesser (1) on Thursday, March 6, 2025, during the Big Ten women's tournament at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. | Grace Hollars/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Garzon led Indiana (19-11) with 18 points – 13 of which were scored in the second half. Shay Ciezki had 17 points – 15 of which were tallied in the first half. Chloe Moore-McNeil added 13 points and five assists as the Hoosiers never trailed.

Indiana’s defensive clampdown overwhelmed the Ducks from the start.

On Oregon’s first play, Garzon trapped Oregon’s 6-foot-8 center Phillipina Kyei and forced her to travel. It was the first of a spate of giveaways by the Ducks.

Indiana’s suffocating half-court defense stymied Oregon, and the Ducks couldn’t stop giving the ball away. All seven of Oregon’s turnovers came in the first 5 minutes, 9 seconds of the first quarter.

“We definitely executed, I think, amazing on the defensive end. We knew they were bigger than us in some aspects. We needed a couple times to throw second bodies at their post players. It was an emphasis this week going into the Big Ten Tournament that defense helps our offense,” Parrish said.

The Indiana player who took advantage was guard Shay Ciezki.

Often at the point of attack as Indiana tried to score in transition, Ciezki aggressively probed the Oregon defense as she hunted shots for herself or others.

Ciezki did much of her damage from beyond the arc. She was 3 of 4 from 3-point range in the first quarter as she scored 11 in the opening period. She also had two assists in the quarter.

“It’s easy when we get stops. Now we can push and run, and we could push in transition and not let them set up defensively because they’re a defensive team. We used that to our advantage,” Ciezki said.

Ciezki contributed to a 10-0 run that gave the Hoosiers an early 15-4 lead.

Indiana’s high-water mark in the first half was a 34-20 lead with 4:50 in the second quarter, but trouble was brewing. Oregon was able to get Indiana’s bigs in foul trouble. Garzon, Karoline Striplin and Lilly Meister all had three first-half fouls. The Hoosiers used freshman Faith Wiseman briefly in the second quarter to get by.

Oregon scored eight of their 19 second-quarter points at the line, but the Ducks weren’t able to get stops to truly make it stick. Indiana used a balanced attack to convert 58.3% from the field in the second quarter, and the Hoosiers led 40-30 at halftime.

That foul trouble didn’t subside for the Hoosiers in the second half. Striplin and Meister both picked up their fourth fouls early in the half. Wiseman did yeoman’s work to get the Hoosiers through the manpower shortage.

Oregon (19-11) was twice able to get the deficit to six and once to five points in the third quarter, but in each case Indiana responded with a timely shot to prevent the Ducks from building further momentum. Free throws by Lexus Bargesser, a 3-pointer by Parrish and a 3-pointer by Garzon provided answers for the Hoosiers when the Ducks crept close.

“When they started squeezing into our lead, Syd hit that big shot in the corner. Yarden comes off an easy pin-down screen and hits the big three to help us continue to get separation,” Indiana coach Teri Moren said. “In those moments, you have to have a lot of guts to be able to take big shots, especially when teams start coming back and catching up.”

Indiana Hoosiers guard Yarden Garzon (12) celebrates scoring a three point basket Thursday, March 6, 2025, during the Big Ten women's tournament at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Indiana Hoosiers defeated the Oregon Ducks, 78-62. | Grace Hollars/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Indiana pulled away in the final period. Its lead narrowed to 63-55 with 6:15 left, but a 13-0 run finished the Ducks off.

The victory should do wonders for Indiana’s NCAA Tournament prospects. The win over Oregon evened the season series against a team close to the Hoosiers on the bubble. Minnesota’s loss on Wednesday – the Golden Gophers defeated Indiana in February – also helped.

Indiana can do itself even more good if it can knock off Big Ten champion and second-ranked Southern California in the noon quarterfinal game on Friday. Like it did against Oregon, Indiana also lost to USC by seven points. Unlike the Ducks, the Trojans have arguably the best college basketball player in all-everything guard JuJu Watkins.

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