Mackenzie Holmes Breaks Indiana Scoring Record, Hoosiers Trounce Purdue 95-62
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Tyra Buss has company.
Showered with water, tearing up on the bench beside teammates, and wrapping Indiana head coach Teri Moren with the biggest hug postgame, Mackenzie Holmes has become the all-time leading scorer in Indiana women’s basketball history. Holmes scored 17 points Sunday during Indiana's 95-62 victory over Purdue and became Indiana's all-time leading scorer over Buss by one: 2,365 points.
“I’m just extremely thankful,” Holmes said post-game. “It’s a really special thing for me to wear Indiana across my chest every single day. To play in Assembly Hall has been one of the greatest blessings of my life. I think I was just kind of feeling that when I saw Tyra and Amanda (Cahill) up on the screen. It’s really amazing the culture that coach Moren has built.”
For weeks, Holmes has been reluctant to overthink about the record, saying that she was mostly reminded by the media. On Sunday, after a scoring tribute that began with Buss speaking, ran on the video board, Holmes began to tear up and later answered the curtain call. Despite Holmes saying that she didn’t think about it much to the media, she told Moren postgame the weight was off her shoulders.
Before Sunday, Holmes said her main focus was to sweep Purdue at home.
“I did it as a player back in the day,” Moren explained. “It’s meaningful because I'm still talking about it to this day … that’s one of the things that I’ll always remember about my time at Purdue, is that we were able to sweep Indiana … My teammates and I still cherish that.”
Now it's Indiana with the broom. Sunday was Indiana’s 11th-consecutive over the Boilermakers, dating back to the 2018-2019 season. Since Holmes arrived one year later, Indiana has swept Purdue all five seasons. Sunday was the biggest margin of victory, 33 points, in Indiana’s 43 all-time wins against the Boilermakers. The prior-best was Indiana’s 84-54 victory back in 1980.
Players and staff from teams in the 1980s were even honored at halftime for Alumni Day. The program announced former players and staff decade-by-decade, beginning with the 1960s. Grace Berger was honored, and former associate head coach Glenn Box was in the building.
But for the first 20 minutes, it was uncertain if Holmes would break the record. She had just six points at the break, shooting 3-for-7 from the floor. In the January game at Mackey Arena, Purdue held Holmes to 15 points, which was below her average. Holmes was below pace Sunday once more, until she began the third quarter with five straight points.
“We were gonna get it, one way or the other,” Moren said.
With 7:30 left, Holmes missed a layup that would've broken the record. From there, most of the fans in attendance seemed aware that the next basket would do it, and Holmes said she could feel it, too. She didn’t attempt another basket for two minutes, and Moren called timeout to settle the air — and design the record-breaking play. Yarden Garzon isolated Holmes in the post, and she curled for her program-best 972nd made basket.
Sunday was, well, perfect for Indiana women’s basketball. Holmes broke the points record with alumni there. Sara Scalia tied Buss for No. 2 on Indiana’s single-season 3-pointer charts and is destined to break that soon. Chloe Moore-McNeil had a career high five threes and 22 points, right after her triple-double last Thursday, and Moren clinched her ninth-straight 20-win season.
Plus, Iowa lost at Nebraska, which means Indiana is back in the Big Ten race.
The Hoosiers, now 11-2 in the Big Ten, visit Wisconsin Wednesday night.
Related Stories on Indiana Women's Basketball
- 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.
- INDIANA-MICHIGAN STATE GAME STORY: Indiana trailed Michigan State at halftime Thursday. But the Hoosiers rallied in the fourth quarter to win, 94-91. Senior Chloe Moore-McNeil posted her first-career double-double. CLICK HERE
