Indiana Women Get Huge Road Win With Impressive Performance at Tennessee
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — One of the toughest things to do on the road in a hostile environment is withstand runs. You know they're coming, and how you respond is often the difference between winning and losing.
Indiana's No. 12-ranked women's basketball team knows that all too well. They've played in enough big games the past few years to know what it takes to finish games.
They took one body blow after another on Monday night against No. 11 Tennessee, an iconic program that's back to having Final Four aspirations. Three times in the second half, the Volunteers cut into an Indiana double-digit lead, and all three times, the Hoosiers swatted them away, winning impressively 79-67.
It was, without question, a huge win on national television for the Hoosiers, who are now 3-0 on the young season. And they answered every question with an emphatic answer.
"We knew that it was going to be a tale of two teams going at it here in a hostile environment, and I'm just really, really happy with how we handled ourselves, especially whenever Tennessee made runs,'' Indiana coach Teri Moren said. ''We outrebounded Tennessee, and that was the most important key to the game tonight.
"We have so many new faces, although they're experienced. When the momentum shifted a couple of times, we answered. I loved how we shared it tonight, with 21 assists, and I love that we only had 10 turnovers. Our ability to make a lot of hustle plays tonight was superb. Our gap help had to be really special tonight, and I'm very proud. It's a great night for us.''
Indiana had five players score 13 points or more, and they outrebounded the much bigger Vols 35-33. They also controlled the tempo of the game, getting 21 fast-break points to just two for Tennessee.
Forward Mackenzie Holmes had 16 points, including eight in the fourth quarter to combat Tennessee rallies. Sara Scalia, the transfer from Minnesota, also had 16, Tennessee native Chloe Moore-McNeil had 15 and Grace Berger and Sydney Parrish had 13 each.
All five players had huge moments in the game for Indiana.
The Hoosiers looked as comfortable as could be early in Thompson-Boling Arena, one of the toughest places to play in women's college basketball. This stage was not too big. They went on an 11-0 run late in the first quarter to grab a 20-10 lead, getting a big boost from Parrish, the former Oregon transfer from Fishers, Ind., who had seven quick points in a four-minute window to get ahead.
Indiana stayed ahead in the second quarter, with Scalia getting eight points in the quarter, six on two three-pointers. Tennessee got no closer than five points, and Indiana went to the locker room with a 40-29 lead.
Indiana's lead grew to 16 points in the third quarter, but Tennessee cut it to seven on consecutive threes from Tess Darby, a former high school teammate of Moore-McNeil's in Greenfield, Tenn. She answered with a three of her own, though.
Tennessee made two other runs, getting the lead down to six late in the third quarter and down to four at 61-57 with 7:04 to go.
They would get no closer.
Berger, Indiana's veteran point guard, hit a huge mid-range jumper to get Indiana back ahead by six, and then Moore-McNeil scored on a breakaway. Scalia hit a jumper and two free throws, and then Berger scored again to push the lead to 12 with 2:50 to go. Tennessee, which was ranked No. 4 in the preseason poll but fell after losing at Ohio State last week, had no answer.
Tennessee coach Kellie Harper was impressed with Indiana. She knew coming in how tough they would be defensively, but they also were very hard to guard, she said.
"This is exactly what I expected from Indiana. They punched us in the month. I would have liked to see a better response to that, but we didn't see it,'' Harper said. "Knowing where they were last year, they were tough and physical and you know they are going to defend.
"How they're different, they've surrounded Holmes with more three-point shooters. That makes them more difficult to guard. There were times I wanted to help off the post, and there was no one to come off of.''
The Hoosiers are back at home on Thursday, taking on Bowling Green. The game starts at 7 p.m. ET. It will be streamed on BTN-Plus.
