3/1/2022 basketball Edit

IU women's basketball sees five players earn All-Big Ten honors

Alec Lasley • TheHoosier

Senior Writer

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Indiana women's basketball saw all five starters named to All-Big Ten Teams, announced on Tuesday. Nicole Cardaño-Hillary was also part of the All-Defensive team.

Indiana finished 19-7 (11-5) for the 2021-22 season and are the No. 5 seed in the Big Ten Tournament.

Below is the full release.

Indiana women's basketball placed all five starters on All-Big Ten teams (IU Athletics)

ROSEMONT, Ill. – Indiana women's basketball placed all five starters on All-Big Ten teams while graduate student guard Nicole Cardaño-Hillary made the All-Defensive team in the league's annual postseason awards, announced on Tuesday. Indiana places five players across the league's first, second and honorable mention teams – the most in a single season in program history. It beats the previous record of four the Hoosiers placed on All-Big Ten teams in 2020-21.

With a spot on the honorable mention team, graduate student guard Ali Patberg becomes the program's third four-time All-Big Ten selection joining Cindy Bumgarner (1985-88) and Jill Chapman (1999-02). Cardaño-Hillary becomes the program's fifth player named to the league's All-Defensive team and the third player under head coach Teri Moren to earn a spot on the five-man team (Alexis Gassion, 2016 and Mackenzie Holmes, 2021). Additionally, Patberg earns the team's Sportsmanship Award. In a vote by the league's coaches and media, senior guard Grace Berger placed on the All-Big Ten First Team for the second-consecutive season while senior forward Aleksa Gulbe earned second team honors (coaches and media) along with junior forward Mackenzie Holmes (coaches and media) and Cardaño-Hillary (coaches) and honorable mention (media). Patberg joins the quartet with a spot on the honorable mention team (coaches and media).

Berger leads Indiana with 16.4 points per game this season while shooting 45.2 percent from the floor. She adds a solid stat line with 6.0 rebounds, a team-high 4.8 assists and 1.6 steals per game. One of IU's best at the line, the Louisville, Ky. native shoots 81.4 percent at the charity stripe. Berger has two double-doubles to her name this season and has scored in double figures 23 times, including the last 12 straight games. She ranks 11th overall in scoring in the Big Ten, sixth in assists and fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio (+2.0). She earned Big Ten Player of the Week honors for her efforts on Feb. 14, her second player of the week honor in her career. Her name etches the IU record books as fifth in assists (407) and 16th in scoring (1,42). Nationally, Berger was named to the 2022 Cheryl Miller award Top 10 watch list as one of the nation's top small forwards and to the 2022 Wade Watch List.

Gulbe rounds out her IU career as a two-time All-Big Ten selection with a spot on the league's second team. The Riga, Latvia native was a 2020-21 All-Big Ten honorable mention and has stepped up her game as a senior. She increased her scoring average by three points, adding 12.7 points per game for Indiana in 2021-22. In addition, she leads the team in rebounding with 6.5 boards per game and averages 1.0 blocks per contest. She leads IU with three double-doubles this season and has scored in double figures in 15 games. The 31st player in school history to record 1,000 points, the Riga, Latvia native has scored 1,014 career points and is ninth in career blocks (109).

Holmes adds All-Big Ten second team honors to her resume as she recently returned from a knee procedure that sidelined her from Jan. 13-Feb. 17. In her 18 games played this season, the Gorham, Maine native is averaging 16.1 points, 7.4 rebounds, 1.7 blocks per game and a 59.9 field goal percentage. Her 30 points in a win at Ohio State set a new career-high as has scored 20 or more points five times. She joined the 1,000-point club this season and ranks fourth in all-time blocks (134). She earned a pair of Big Ten Player of the Week honors this season and is a 2022 Lisa Leslie Top 10 watchlist candidate as the nation's top center. She also earned recognition on the 2022 Wade Watch List, 2022 Wooden Award late season Top 20 and 2022 Naismith midseason team.

Cardaño-Hillary earns her first All-Big Ten award as she earns a spot on the second team from the coaches and honorable mention from the league's media while adding her name to the All-Defensive team. The graduate student guard averages 11.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.1 steals per game. She is the team's 3-point leader, knocking down 40 triples this season while shooting 37.4 percent. The Madrid, Spain native has really turned it up on the defensive end of the ball this season, recording 53 steals and 17 games with multiple swipes. She ranks second in the Big Ten with 2.1 steals per game.

Patberg claims a spot on the honorable mention team in her final season with the Hoosiers. Patberg, in her seventh season of collegiate eligibility, averages 11.9 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.3 assists and shoots 41.7 percent from the floor. She has hit 38 triples this season and holds a +2.0 assist-to-turnover ratio, which ranks third in the conference. During her time at IU, she's started in all 116 games she's appeared in and ranks ninth in all-time scoring (1,677) and third in assists (502). The Columbus, Ind. native is a top 10 finalist for the 2022 Senior CLASS Award and is the recipient of the 2022 Big Ten Sportsmanship award for Indiana.

No. 5 seed Indiana (19-7) will begin play in the Big Ten Tournament against the winner of Penn State/Rutgers on Thursday, March 3 at approximately 1:50 p.m. ET at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.