After winning two straight against Washington and Nebraska, Indiana picked up its third straight victory. The Hoosiers defeated the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers 81-60 behind superb defense and an incredible stretch of 3-point shooting in the third quarter.
Sydney Parish led the charge with 22 points, going 4-for-7 from deep, while Shay Ciezki, Yarden Garzon and Chloe Moore-McNeil all scored in double figures as well.
Indiana shot 29-of-53 from the field, but the difference was seen in its 15-for-28 mark from beyond the arc, one that included the 10 threes made in the third quarter alone.
While Rutgers was down just 11 at the half, it couldn't keep up, finishing from 22-of-57 from the field and just 2-of-13 from 3-point land.
All this resulted in the second straight win for Indiana where 3-pointers were the main form of offense, possibly giving an identity that this Hoosiers team has been searching for all season.
With that being said, here's how it happened:
INDIANA'S DEFENSE KEY IN UP-AND-DOWN 1ST HALF
Indiana found itself leading after halftime, yet it wasn't always pretty in the early going. The Hoosiers had a scoring drought of five and a half minutes, but got things going to close the half, resulting in a 32-21 lead at the break.
IU opened the game on a 13-2 run, possibly signaling an extremely one-sided game against the Scarlet Knights, but then Indiana went cold, ice cold.
In the 5:30 that the Hoosiers failed to score, their defense really stepped up, allowing just two Rutgers points in a stretch of the game that could've been disastrous.
Indiana shot just 5-of-14 from the floor in the first half, two of those being 3-pointers on eight attempts from deep. While IU has an abysmal first quarter from the floor, Rutgers was even worse, going 3-of-10 from the floor and 0-of-2 from three.
The lack of scoring translated into the early minutes of the second quarter as well, IU scoring just two points in the first 3:41 of the quarter. This totaled a more than seven minute stretch of the ballgame where Indiana failed to make a shot from the field but, after that, the offense clicked again.
In the final 6:19 of the quarter, the Hoosiers scored 16 points, the same amount scored during the first 13:41 of the half, allowing for the 12 point halftime advantage despite the lengthy stretch where Indiana's offense was out of sorts.
This was, of course, all because of the stifling defense the Hoosiers played in the opening half. It held Rutgers to just 5-of-18 shooting in the second quarter, totaling the Scarlet Knights at 8-of-28 for the half. Kiyomi McMiller had almost half of Rutgers' 21 points, as she scored 10 in the first 20 minutes.
Indiana's leading scorer for the half was Parrish who had 11 points before the break, contributing to the Hoosiers' 6-of-12 mark seen in the second half, one that was a huge improvement over how IU shot it in the opening quarter.
With a 12 point lead entering the final 20 minutes, Indiana had the control on this game it needed to really shine in the second half.
3-POINT OFFENSE COMES ALIVE IN 3RD, IU CRUISES TO WIN
While the Indiana offense was far from spectacular in the first half, in the third quarter it was, and then some.
The Hoosiers totaled 36 points, more than the 32 scored in the first and second quarters combined, but the stretch to end the quarter was simply incredible.
IU led 37-23 with seven minutes left in the the third, proceeding to make 11 of its 12 shots to end the quarter, nine of those being threes.
This included a stretch where IU made a three on six straight possessions, two by Ciezki, one by Garzon, and then three by Parrish.
This run was capped off by a Henna Sandvik 3-pointer in the final seconds of the quarter, giving IU a 68-40 lead after 30 minutes of play, extending its lead from 14 to 28 in the stretch where it seemed like the Hoosiers were incapable of missing a shot.
Indiana totaled the third shooting 10-of-13 from deep, 12-of-15 from the floor and, for what is most likely the most impressive stat of the night, all 12 field goals came off of assists.
This gave the Hoosiers a nearly 30-point advantage going into the final quarter, a lead that it wouldn't come close to giving up, cruising to the victory against the Scarlet Knights.
In "garbage time," Indiana shot 6-of-12 from the field, including adding one three on three attempts in the final 10 minutes.
Rutgers shot 5-of-10, though none of it mattering because of the extremely impressive third quarter the Hoosiers had.
Indiana wasn't at its best for the vast majority of the first half, but this second half showed that Teri Moren's group wouldn't be fazed by one poor half. This win moved IU to 15-7 and 7-4 in Big Ten play with a road game at Minnesota coming on Sunday.
FINAL STATS
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