Minnesota Dominates The Glass As Indiana Women Fall 66-56

MINNEAPOLIS – It’s a fact that Indiana’s women’s basketball team has the worst team rebounding average in the Big Ten. The Hoosiers average 33.5 rebounds per game.

Yet? Indiana has rarely been hurt by its lack of rebounding. Entering Sunday’s game at Minnesota, the Hoosiers were only out-rebounded in a loss by more than 10 boards against North Carolina in the Battle 4 Atlantis championship loss. If Indiana lost the rebounding battle, it was usually marginal.

However, at Williams Arena, the Hoosiers were finally bitten by their inability to work the glass. Minnesota earned a 66-56 Big Ten Conference victory due in large part to the 43-25 rebounding edge the Golden Gophers had

It wasn’t the only reason the Hoosiers’ three-game win streak came to an end. Minnesota also surged in front after making two-thirds of its third quarter shots. Indiana also struggled offensively, missing several shots at the rim with a tepid 37.5% shooting percentage overall.

But it was the rebounding and dearth of other effort plays that had Indiana coach Teri Moren displeased. While Minnesota’s edge didn’t lead to many second chance points – the Gophers had 10 – Moren lamented the hustle plays the Gophers made as symptomatic of the same problem.

“I just thought that Minnesota did a great job of tracking down all those (rebounds),” Moren said. “They got to every 50/50 ball. They got all of those. They got their hands on (the ball) whether they came up with it or not. They certainly got their hands on it and tipped it.”

Lack of fight in this area was irritating to Moren who said that Minnesota’s rebounding (the Gophers rank fifth in the Big Ten at 39.7 per game) was emphasized to the players before the game, but the lesson wasn’t heeded.

“I'm not happy and those kids shouldn't be happy either. That was part of what we knew we had to do today and and you got to do it every night, right?” Moren said.

“It just can't show up on the nights that we play in the Hall with all of our fans there. It has to show up on every stinking night, especially on the when you're on the road,” Moren added.

Sydney Parrish led the Hoosiers with six rebounds. Chloe Moore-McNeil had five and Yarden Garzon had four. No one else had more than two rebounds. Indiana post players Karoline Striplin and Lilly Meister combined for one between them.

Minnesota’s Mallory Heyer led the Gophers with 13 rebounds. She and Sophie Hart (eight rebounds) nearly outrebounded the Hoosiers by themselves.

“I just didn't feel like we fought. That's what's disappointing. The discrepancy is that they kicked our rear ends. They kicked our butts,” Moren said. “We’ve (coaches) got to be more demanding. And those teammates, they got to be more demanding of one another.”

Indiana also struggled to score. Shay Ciezki and Striplin co-led Indiana with 12 points. Moore-McNeil had 11. Parrish and Garzon had bad shooting days within the same game. They combined to make 4 of 19 from the field and were 2 of 10 from 3-point range.

“I just think that we just didn't make our shots,” Ciezki said. “A lot of us shooters we weren't on tonight.”

Indiana had control of the game early. Striplin scored five in a row as part of an 8-2 run that put the Hoosiers in front 17-11 in the opening quarter.

Indiana held serve, leading 22-17 into the second quarter when the offense dissipated for the Hoosiers. Indiana only scored two baskets in the final 7:41 of the second quarter as Minnesota slipped ahead 29-27 at halftime.

The third quarter is where the game got away from Indiana for good. A 7-0 run gave Minnesota a 40-32 lead as the Gophers’ red-hot shooting put Indiana in a hole. Heyer had six points and five rebounds in the third quarter alone as Minnesota led 50-41 entering the final period.

Minnesota’s lead peaked at 15 with 7:29 when the Gophers ran out of gas. Minnesota (19-6, 7-6) would not make another bucket for the rest of the game.

Indiana (15-8, 7-5) was able to whittle its deficit to 60-54 with 1:19 left, but Minnesota made six of its eight free throws down the stretch to hold the Hoosiers off.

With the Hoosiers fighting to stay away from the NCAA Tournament bubble, this loss was damaging. Indiana fell into a tie with Nebraska for eighth place in the conference. Minnesota looms a half-game behind the Hoosiers.

Indiana’s next opponent – Michigan – is a half-game in front of the Hoosiers in seventh place. Indiana trails both the Wolverines and Gophers in the NCAA NET rankings.

Indiana plays at Michigan at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

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