No. 9 Indiana Falls to Michigan State in Quarterfinals of Big Ten Tournament

INDIANAPOLIS — It was a half of polar opposites for Indiana in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday night in Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Unfortunately for the Hoosiers, the second half was the one that didn't go as planned, and Michigan State pulled off a big upset over No. 9 Indiana 69-61.

"We lost our composure, our poise in the second half," head coach Teri Moren said. "So, disappointed, but excited that we have more basketball ahead of us."

It was a game in which Indiana started out well, taking care of the ball and forcing Michigan State into a lot of turnovers. At the end of the first quarter, Indiana led 16-11 and had just one turnover while Michigan State had seven.

The second quarter was much of the same as Grace Berger got going and led all scorers with 12 points at halftime. The Hoosiers appeared to be cruising with an eight-point lead at halftime, but then the Spartans came out firing in the third quarter.

Michigan State opened the second half on a 9-0 run to take a one-point lead before Mackenzie Holmes slowed down the momentum with a bucket inside.

"There were times where I thought their energy level was better than ours, especially to start the third quarter," Moren said. "In the first half we just left the door open."

From there, the two teams traded baskets, but a pivotal point was when Nicole Cardaño-Hillary picked up her fourth foul early in the third quarter with Indiana leading 41-40.

"It hurt a lot," Moren said. "She's been so great for us on the defensive side of the ball. We had to protect her as much as we could, and that was a little bit frustrating."

The Spartans outscored the Hoosiers by 10 in the third quarter and took a 47-45 lead into the fourth.

Still, it felt like Indiana had a pretty good grasp on the game. But then Michigan State's Nia Clouden started to take over.

She was able to score 30 points on the night, and Indiana didn't have much of an answer for her. The Hoosiers switched to a 2-3 zone down the stretch to try to stifle Clouden.

"We didn't get stops. We didn't have answers," senior guard Ali Patberg said. "We went to the 2-3 to make them think, and I think it worked pretty well, but there just wasn't enough time."

Patberg had a chance to tie the game with a three in the corner, but she couldn't connect. There were a few costly misses for the Hoosiers down the stretch that could've changed the momentum of the game.

Michigan State outscored Indiana 43-27 in the second half, and as a result, the Hoosiers' nine-game winning streak came to an end.

But Indiana's season is far from over. Although they are disappointed from not doing well in the Big Ten Tournament, Indiana will be selected as a No. 3 or 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The selection show will take place on Monday, March 15.

"I can tell you we're gonna be a lot better from this. It sucks right now," Patberg said. "We have to own how we played tonight. We have a lot of basketball left."

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