Sara Scalia Breaks Indiana 3-Point Record, No. 14 Hoosiers Beat Wisconsin 68-54
Yet another Indiana women’s basketball record has been broken.
On Wednesday night at Wisconsin, veteran Sara Scalia’s four 3-pointers — which gave her 79 for the season — broke Amanda Cahill's single-season record as the Hoosiers won, 68-54.
That was the second major team record broken this week. On Sunday, Mackenzie Holmes passed Tyra Buss as Indiana’s all-time leading scorer. Both Buss and Cahill played for the Hoosiers in 2017-18.
“I had heard some things about how I was close to breaking the record like before coming into the game, but honestly, I didn't really know like for sure how many away I was,” Scalia said postgame. “My mom, my dad … family from Illinois that came down… I had a lot of relatives here … It’s a really good feeling, because I’m really close with my family … Accomplishing something like this and experiencing it with them too after the game definitely felt really good.”
Scalia finished with 15 points, going 4-for-8 from 3-point range. Holmes led all scorers with 24 points and shot 11-for-19 from the field.
While Scalia garnered the spotlight, senior Chloe Moore-McNeil also drained four shots beyond the arc. In four games prior to Sunday, Moore-McNeil shot just 2-for-13. Within the last two games in four days, the guard has made her last nine. Holmes also sank only her second 3-pointer of the season, and backup post player Lilly Meister made the first of her career. Entering the Wisconsin matchup, the sophomore only attempted one in 444 minutes.
“All of our kids, they have the green light,” Indiana head coach Teri Moren said postgame. “The reason they have the green light, and I’ve talked about this forever, is because of the work they do inside of practice, outside of practice, on their shots … It really helps us offensively … What we’re seeing right now is a very, very, confident Chloe Moore-McNeil.”
Moren wasn’t pleased with how the team shot Wednesday night, though the Hoosiers went 10-for-20 beyond the arc. And even when Indiana’s shots weren’t falling in the third quarter, which opened the door to a Wisconsin rally, the Hoosiers forced five turnovers. Wisconsin averages the most turnovers in the Big Ten and posted 19 Wednesday night.
Indiana comfortably led by 16 points at halftime, but Wisconsin closed to within six mid-way through the third quarter. Scalia’s much-needed 3-pointer with 35 seconds in the third quarter helped stop the bleeding and Indiana led 48-39 going into the fourth quarter before winning by double digits.
Indiana shot 13-for-23 in the first two quarters. Then, it went an abysmal 3-for-13 in the third.
“Oftentimes, it's always from losses that you learn lessons,” Moren said. “But there's a great lesson here tonight that we learned after a win. Anytime your shots are not falling, and that happened to us in the third quarter, that doesn't mean our defense can go down the toilet. I thought that we were thinking about the shots that we missed and I don't know if we felt bad for ourselves. But … I thought we lacked a lot of toughness, grittiness … That's a bad habit.”
Wisconsin’s leading scorer, forward Serah Williams, reached her average with 18 points. Wednesday was her 10th consecutive double-double as she grabbed 14 rebounds. Yet, the sophomore had an inefficient performance, shooting 6-for-16. Indiana holding Williams to 37.5% was lower than what No. 2 Ohio State held Williams to two weeks ago, at 6-for-13, or 46%.
Indiana improves to 21-3 overall and 12-2 in the Big Ten. The Hoosiers play at Illinois on Monday at 2 p.m. The game will be broadcast on FOX.
Related Stories on Indiana Women's Basketball
- WATCH: MACKENZIE HOLMES BREAKS SCORING RECORD: Here are three videos on Mackenzie Holmes breaking Indiana's all-time scoring record Sunday. CLICK HERE
- INDIANA-PURDUE GAME STORY, HOLMES BREAKS RECORD: Mackenzie Holmes needed 17 points to pass Tyra Buss as the program's all-time scoring leader and she hit that number precisely. CLICK HERE
- WATCH: ASSEMBLY HALL CELEBRATES MOORE-MCNEIL'S TRIPLE-DOUBLE: In the final moments, Moore-McNeil grabbed her 10th rebound and made both free throws for a triple-double. CLICK HERE to watch the video of the celebration.
