IU Advances To Second Round Of NCAA Tournament Behind Penn's 24 Points
Sophomore guard Jaelynn Penn's 24 points propelled 10th-seeded Indiana to a 69-65 NCAA tournament first round win over seventh-seeded Texas Friday night at Matthew Knight Arena in Portland, Oregon.
The Hoosiers will face second-seeded Oregon on Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN2 following the Ducks' 78-40 win over Portland State late Friday.
"I feel like my teammates set me good screens on our plays, and I took the opportunity to get good shots," Penn said. "I was hot early and they kept giving it to me, and thankfully I was able to knock them down."
Tied at 27 with 5:26 left in the second quarter, the Hoosiers endured a 10-0 run by the Longhorns which helped push their lead to double-digits late in the first half. During that same stretch, IU went more than four and a half minutes without a basket until Penn's layup with 49 seconds left in the period broke the scoreless streak.
"The message is easy, we've been there before," Moren said of what she told the team at halftime.
Indiana then engineered a dramatic turnaround in the third quarter behind a 17-3 run at the start of the period. While it maintained the lead and kept Texas at arms' length, the Longhorns still were within single digits.
Trailing 63-62 with 2:31 left, sophomore guard and Portland native Bendu Yeaney sank a pair of clutch free throws to help IU regain the lead. A turnover on the ensuing Texas possession led to a 3-point by Penn which pushed the Hoosiers' lead to five. Jatarie White's layup cut the IU lead to two with 1:21 left, but back-to-back empty possessions by Texas killed its hopes of a rally. Redshirt junior guard Ali Patberg sealed the game with a pair of free throws with 12 seconds left.
While leading scorer Patberg was held to 10 points, she also chipped in seven assists. Yeaney's 17 points were second on the team behind Penn's 24, and she also added six rebounds.
For IU, it's just the second time in program history it has advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament. The last time it happened was 2016 when IU defeated Georgia.
All told, it's also the third NCAA tournament win in school history - and Moren has two of them.
"We didn't come to Oregon just to beat Texas," Moren said. "There's more to do for this group."
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