'We're Fighters': Indiana Women's Basketball Reverses Blowout Trend, Hangs Tough With No. 1 South Carolina
ALBANY — Chloe Moore-McNeil hurriedly turned over her shoulder, acknowledgement that after she hit her first 3-pointer 12 minutes into the Sweet 16 Friday night she had to retreat to defend the best team in the nation.
Moore-McNeil’s triple pulled No. 4 Indiana within six points of No. 1 South Carolina. The Gamecocks countered. Moore-McNeil shot another and hit again.
This time, she turned over her shoulder more vigorously. She stared. Not at South Carolina, but at her teammates and coaches on the bench. The veteran often doesn’t show emotion on the court. She’ll scold in timeouts and in team meetings, but here? She didn’t speak, though her eyes did: if Indiana would be ousted Friday, they would at least throw haymakers. Yet none of Indiana’s punches stuck. They limped into halftime down by 17 points.
“We didn't freak out because we were down big,” Indiana senior Sydney Parrish said postgame.
South Carolina’s players at midcourt danced to the macarena as the Hoosiers walked back onto the floor at MVP Arena. The Gamecocks must’ve read the scouting report: Indiana got trounced at Stanford, at Iowa, at Illinois, and also to Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament as their foes ran up the scores. Indiana didn’t get killed once last season. This season, it happened too often when they didn’t play inside their home sweet home, Assembly Hall.
The Gamecocks had scored 49 points by halftime, but they began to make mistakes. The Hoosiers also started making shots. Parrish connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to get Indiana within 13 points. Associate head coach Rhet Wierzba called for more energy in a media timeout. Yarden Garzon got to the basket and cut the deficit to 11 points. Indiana could’ve gotten to eight if Holmes had made two free throws. But the Hoosiers had the momentum, and were within five by the time seven minutes were left.
“I think that we knew we were capable of coming back,” Holmes said. “We saw Tennessee do it in the SEC Tournament semifinal. Like coach said, we battled our butts off tonight the entire third and fourth quarter, whether shots were falling or not. We kept getting back on defense, kept getting stops, kept making plays on the other end. I'm just super, super proud … our backs were against the wall and we did not go down without a fight. That's all we can really ask for.”
Holmes got Indiana back within two points with 68 seconds to go. She was the first Hoosier to leave the court postgame, following the 79-75 loss. Friday night was her last game college game. She made sure that did not happen in Assembly Hall last weekend in the Round of 32, when her 12 fourth-quarter points sealed a trip to the Sweet 16. Holmes loves Indiana. She’s the program’s all-time leading scorer and winningest player.
“I just pray that every student-athlete gets to feel the way I feel about a school, because they deserve it,” Holmes said, her voice quivering. “Accomplishments aside, I've met friends that have turned into family here at Indiana, people that I'll have with me for the rest of my life … I'm just very, very thankful that Coach Moren saw something in me, offered me to play here, and that I've gotten the chance to play five years under her with some really, really special people.”
Holmes stated Moren is an example of what strong women look like, what fearless leaders look like. Parrish said last season when she transferred to Indiana, she told Moren she rejuvenated Parrish’s love for basketball. Parrish paused to cry when she began to speak about Mackenzie.
“We said we weren’t going to do this,” Moren said at the postgame podium.
“I know, I know,” Parrish replied.
“I didn’t think we would be as close as we are today,” Parrish said.
Friday was also Sara Scalia’s last game at Indiana. The two-year Hoosier broke out this season, shattering the program’s single-season 3-point record with 101. South Carolina made it difficult for the sharpshooter to get anything off Friday, but the Hoosiers eventually made 13, setting the team’s new single-season record with 268 triples.
Transfers like Scalia are important going forward, Moren said, though she prefers the combination of high school recruits and the portal. The goal is retaining players such as Moore-McNeil, who played sparingly before blossoming into the team’s starting point guard and is returning next season.
“I'm always optimistic," Moren said about expectations for next year. “That's just how I've been raised. Those guys that are coming back, this is a great experience for them. It needs to sting. It needs to hurt a little bit. I want our kids –– as I said to them, to walk out with their heads held high. But I want it to bother Beau[mont]. I want it to bother Jules. I want it to bother Chloe, I want it to bother Lilly, all those kids, Lexus. I want it to bother them, and I know it does.”
Parrish and Garzon will also return, giving Indiana three starters back. There’s holes, like there was last season when Grace Berger graduated and was drafted in the WNBA. But the Hoosiers can build off this spirited run, battling with Oklahoma and the goliath in South Carolina in the past two rounds. Indiana is one of five teams in the nation to have kept it within single digits to 35-0 South Carolina. With so many road blowouts this season, the Hoosiers proved Friday they can battle back and compete with the best away from Assembly Hall.
“We knew we were going to have to fight until the end,” Parrish said. “We could have given up after halftime, and it could have been a really ugly game, but we're fighters, and I think we showed that tonight. I'm glad we did because I think it put us on the map, and I think people will realize what Indiana basketball is. We weren't going to give up. … whether that was for us to make it to the Elite 8 or whether it was for Sara, Mackenzie and Arielle, it being their last game.”
“Teri will get her team back in this position,” South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley said.
MATTHEW BYRNE
Matthew Byrne is the first Joan Brew Memorial Scholarship recipient and is interning with HoosiersNow for the 2023-2024 academic year. Matthew is in his senior year at Indiana University, studies sports media and covered the Indiana men's soccer team in the fall. He covers the Indiana women's basketball and baseball teams in the spring.