Hoosiers Knock Off Defending Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament Champions, Maryland in Quarterfinals
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — For seven years, Maryland has either been Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament champions or the runner-up. This year, No. 5-seed Indiana knocked off the No. 4-seed Terrapins 62-51 in the quarterfinals.
"Maryland has always been the bar," Indiana head coach Teri Moren said. "They have always been the bar. I think that's for everybody in this league, and if they tell you they're not, then I think they're lying."
Indiana played the Terrapins two times in the regular season. First, the Hoosiers beat them at home in January and then lost in College Park before facing them one week later.
"It's a big win, but at the end of the day it's just the quarterfinals," senior guard Grace Berger said. "We still have two more games. Our goal is to win the Big Ten Championship and then we'll worry about the NCAA Tournament."
Indiana didn't allow Maryland to score a single three-pointer as the Terrapins went 0-for-12 from the three-point line. Maryland's offensive struggle followed them to the field as they shot 31.4 percent overall for its lowest percentage in a Big Ten tournament game since 2015.
Indiana, however, had an electrifying game both on offense and defense. Junior forward Mackenzie Holmes recorded her best performance since coming back from a left knee injury in February scoring the team-high 17 points as part of Indiana's 40 percent shooting from the field.
Holmes said her rehab journey was very hard, and she's not ready to share what her exact injury was.
"There's been a lot of frustrations on my end and on their (Hoosiers) end too, and I think it's just staying with it and staying the course and just knowing that each game is going to be better and better," Holmes said.
Moren said she thought her team's defense was great. The Hoosiers held graduate student guard Katie Benzan, who usually averages 10.5 points per game, to zero points.
"We knew again that we were going to have to be extra special on that side of the ball," Moren said. "Our mentality was, one, to be aggressive; two, to take some calculated risk in terms of blitzing and trying to get in gaps and just trying to be active with our hands."
Indiana has always hung its hat on defensive play. Berger said although their defense failed them in the last stretch of the postseason, today was different.
"It was a big emphasis coming back into this postseason to really hold teams, whether we shoot good or not, we always have a chance to win if we can keep that defensive intensity," Berger said.
Both teams started off the first quarter with a pair of free throws. Graduate student guard Nicole Cardaño-Hillary made the first field goal for the Hoosiers and pulled off four slick steals in the first half.
Around the three-minute mark, Berger capitalized on two mid-range jumpers as part of four consecutive field goals for the Hoosiers.
Off of senior guard Aleksa Gulbe's missed shot, Holmes made a layup off of her own offensive rebound with 24 seconds to go.
Maryland freshman guard Shyanne Sellers responded with a jumper to end the first period. Hoosiers led 18-13 after shooting 50 percent from the field.
Gulbe opened up the quarter with the Hoosiers' first shot off of an offensive rebound. Berger showed off her wheels and hit a full court layup giving Indiana a 9-point lead going into the media timeout.
Maryland responded with four made field goals in a row. Meanwhile, Indiana entered more than a two-minute scoring drought.
Holmes checked the Hoosiers back in by making two layups and finishing the half with 10 points.
Indiana headed to the locker room with a 34-25 lead. Neither team hit any three-pointers in the first half, but they did produce a strong rebound game. Maryland finished the half with 21. Indiana was right behind at 20 rebounds.
Cardaño-Hillary opened up the Hoosiers' second half by swishing the first three-pointer of the game to give Indiana a 10-point lead.
That double-figure cushion disappeared as Indiana turned the ball over three times in just under three minutes and entered a three and a half minute scoring drought.
Maryland used the Hoosiers' slump to go on a 6-0 run before Holmes's layup ended Indiana's drought.
Maryland brought its deficit within a bucket, but Holmes flew down the court for the and-1, crucial 3-point play.
Berger ended the quarter with a full-court layup as the buzzer sounded giving Indiana a 47-41 lead going into the final period.
The Terrapins kept chipping away but Indiana clapped back harder as sophomore guard Chloe Moore-McNeil hit a long three-pointer for the 9-point lead with under eight minutes to play.
"We have all the confidence in the world in Chloe, and I think she just needed to have that in herself and just watching her do what she does on the court — her length, her ability to drive in the lane, but also her ability to shoot and defend — has just helped us so much," Holmes said.
Despite five turnovers in seven minutes and a four-minute field goal scoring drought, Indiana held on to knock off Maryland and earn a ticket to the semifinals versus No. 1-seed Ohio State.
Indiana out-rebounded the Terrapins 42-39 led by Gulbe and Berger's 11 rebounds a piece.
Up next, Indiana will play the No. 1-seed Ohio State Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. It will be aired on BTN.
"This is probably been one of my favorite teams to coach just because of the leadership, because of the experience they have," Moren said.
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