Indiana Women's Basketball Claims Top Spot in Big Ten, Beats No. 5 Iowa for Record Crowd
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — For a Hoosier record breaking crowd of 13,046 fans, No. 2 Indiana women's basketball defended its home court beating No. 5 Iowa 87-78 on Thursday night to claim the top spot in the Big Ten.
Graduate student guard Grace Berger led with 26 points as senior forward Mackenzie Holmes cashed in on 24. Junior guard Chloe Moore-McNeil and Berger led the team with nine boards as Iowa's Caitlin Clark was the clear star on the other side with 35 points.
"I just really wanted to win," Berger said. "I know Iowa's a really great team. They're a top five team in the country for a reason, and I remember losing to them three times last year and in the Big Ten championship game, so every time we play a team like that it means a little more."
Clark's offensive performance was stellar, but the Hawkeyes' constant fouling gave Indiana the chance to pull away throughout the game as the Hoosiers made 22 free throws over Iowa's 12. The Hawkeyes had one player foul out and three others with four fouls a piece as Indiana had two players foul out and one other in trouble.
Although Clark had a great scoring night, Moore-McNeil helped force some of Clark's eight turnovers, the most on the Hawkeyes' side.
"She's had the charge of being on the opposing team's best offensive guard, and so she knew the task, but she also knew she needed help," Moren said. "In transition, we tagged [Clark] as quickly as we could."
Holmes was in charge of taking care of Hawkeye fifth year center Monika Czinano, who was limited to six points on the night and fouled out in the fourth quarter.
"I really tried to have a defensive mindset going into this game knowing that it wasn't going to be easy, but just trying to be myself," Holmes said.
Moren mentioned in Wednesday's press conference the intangibles not found on the stat sheet were going to make the difference tonight. Thirty-four attempts at the free throw line and a 50 percent from three can certainly help, but the toughness, focus and making big, winning plays was what Moren was looking for.
From the jump, it was intense. Holmes hit a midrange jumper in the first 20 seconds and soon after went 1-for-2 from the charity stripe after being fouled early.
Junior guard Sydney Parrish kept up the momentum with a steal and score until Iowa started punching back as Clark tied up the game with back-to-back three-pointers.
That sparked a 13-2 Iowa run over two and a half minutes until Hoosier senior guard Sara Scalia sank a triple and Berger hit a layup for the and-1. The game was back and forth as Parrish connected on another three off Berger's assist with less than four minutes in the first frame.
Meanwhile, Iowa went 1-for-8 for a stretch as the score was tied up 19-19 at the buzzer.
The second quarter was still exciting, but this time neither team scored a bucket for what seemed like forever until Berger made 1-of-2 free throws for a one-point lead.
Scalia and Moore-McNeil sunk both of their shots at the line too. The Stillwater, Minn. native Scalia was feeling it as she made another three-pointer to keep Iowa from closing the gap.
Iowa took back a couple leads off respective layups as the half ended tied again 39-39.
Berger came out of the half hot as she began her second half action with a steal and score following a midrange jumper from Clark. Moren knew Berger was feeling it from knowing her style for five seasons.
"You could just tell by the way she was trying to play fast," Moren said. "She was trying to play downhill most of the night getting to her spots."
Indiana continued to force fouls as Berger aced the extra scoring opportunity with two free throws while Iowa remained scoreless for more than two minutes.
"Grace was really aggressive tonight, and she was getting a lot of good looks at the rim, and my teammates were finding me inside, so I think we have so many pieces that are able to go off for those numbers," Holmes said.
Berger then drove through traffic for a clutch layup for the four-point lead, but consecutive whistles called on Indiana resulted in freshman guard Yarden Garzon picking up her third foul and Berger getting her second just below the six-minute mark.
"You have to adjust to how things are being called, and maybe we were too physical within the night, but you know that happens," Berger said. "We know Iowa's really really good about getting fouled, especially Caitlin Clark."
The lead still continued to swap as Holmes made a nice backdoor cut off Garzon's assist and a few possessions later hit another midrange jumper for a Hoosier four-point lead.
The crowd went wild for Berger's midrange shot after she sprinted back in transition to give Indiana its largest lead of five at the end of the third frame.
In the final frame, Iowa tied it up again off a three-pointer, but Holmes made quick work and swished a layup to keep the lead. Garzon then made a three from the wing which brought the whole Hall to its feet.
The Hoosiers slowly started to pull away off of made free throws that forced a Hawkeye timeout. Indiana stayed on course and hit 5-of-7 shots for a stretch with under five minutes to play.
"It was more about making sure that they understood the importance of they had to sprint back, because we hit a couple over the top in transition, and it was a pretty fast-paced game," Moren said about her group at the timeout.
Garzon, Hawkeye Czinano and then Parrish fouled out as Holmes was on thin ice with four fouls at the end.
As the clock expired, Indiana improved to a 23-1 season record as it looks to play Ohio State for the second time this season on the road this Monday continuing the tough stretch of what remains in conference play.
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