Indiana University Women’s Basketball looks to get Revenge on Illinois The Indiana Hoosiers will face the Illinois Fighting Illini Tonight in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall at 7 pm with the game streaming on Peacock. Indiana leads the all-time series 49-30 including a 26-9 record at home including an 8-game winning streak against the Illini that dates back to 2014. The Last win for Illinois in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall came on February 12, 2012, 61-60. The Hoosiers had 16 game winning streak against Illinois snapped when Illinois beat Indiana 86-66 on February 19, 2024, in Champaign, Illinois. Indiana beat Illinois 77-71 at home on December 31, 2023, to split the season series.
The Hoosiers are 12-4 overall and 4-1 in the Big Ten and return home after a two-game road trip with wins over Northwestern 68-64 and Iowa 74-67. The Hoosiers have won eight of their last nine with their only loss coming to Top Ranked UCLA 73-62 at Home on January 4. Indiana has won 3 games against ranked opponents and are clicking together after a 1-2 start to season and dealing with injuries. Yarden Garzon scored 21 points against Iowa and went a perfect 5-5 from three-point range. The Junior from Ra’anana, Israel is averaging a team leading 14.6 points along with 4.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.4 steals per game. Shay Ciezki is averaging 12 points, 2.9 assists and 2.5 rebounds per game. Lilly Meister is averaging 10.8 points along with a team leading 5.1 rebounds and 0.9 blocks per game. Sydney Parrish is averaging 9.9 points per game. Chloe Moore-McNeil is averaging 9.4 points along with a team leading 4 assists and 1.6 steals per game and Karoline Striplin is averaging 9 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.
Indiana is averaging 71.9 points and committing 14.5 turnovers per game. Indiana is shooting 45% from the field, 34% from three-point range and 77% from the free throw line. The Hoosiers hit 10 three pointers and went a perfect 12-12 from the free throw line. Indiana had 18 assists but committed 17 turnovers. The Hoosiers shined on defense with 9 steals and 9 blocks and held Iowa’s leading scorer Lucy Olsen to 8 points and second leading scorer Hannah Stuelke to 5 points. When Indiana is getting stops on defense and can get points off turnovers, they are a tough out for any opponent no matter the venue.
Illinois is 12-4 on the season and 2-3 in the Big Ten. The Fighting Illini have had a week off since their 62-57 win over Iowa last Thursday at Home. Illinois will be without Guards Makaria Cook and Gretchen Dolan for the rest of the season after Head Coach Shauna Green announced they have both suffered season ending injuries. Cook played 8 games averaging 28.8 minutes, 11.9 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.9 rebounds and 1 assist per game. Dolan played 8 games averaging 24.4 minutes, 10.5 points, 2.6 rebounds, 2 assists per game. The Illini have three players that average double figures including Kendall Bostic, Genesis Bryant and Adalia McKenzie that have been key players for the Illini and will be ones to watch down the stretch of conference play.
Kendall Bostic is leading the team with 15.7 points and 11.2 rebounds per game. Bostic is a 6-2 Senior from Kokomo, Indiana and played at Northwestern HS and has 12 double-doubles this season.in 15 games and she had double digit rebounds in 2 games and double-digit points in the other game as the Hoosiers will attempt to limit her damage inside both scoring and rebounding. Genesis Bryant is averaging 14.4 points along with a team leading 2.9 assists and 1.2 steals per game. Adalia Mackenize is averaging 13.1 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.6 assist per game. Goshen, Indiana Native Brynn Shoup-Hill leads the team with 1.0 blocks per game. The Fighting Illini average 72.2 points and commit 12.8 turnovers per game. Illinois is shooting 43% from the field, 29% from three-point range and 79% from the free throw line.
This will start a two game homestand for Indiana with USC and star player JuJu Watkins coming in on Sunday for a Noon NBC Showdown as the Hoosiers try to White Out the Trojans, but the Hoosiers want to get revenge for their loss at Illinois last season and keep pace with the top teams in the Big Ten while the Fighting Illini try to climb up the ladder of the Big Ten with a road win at a place that they haven’t won in 13 years.
North Carolina State Safety Devan Boykin Joins Indiana University Football for 2025 The IU football program picked up a commitment from NC State transfer defensive back Devan Boykin on Tuesday, multiple national outlets announced on X. Boykin is expected to fill a void at the safety position for the Hoosiers. He could also play the rover position and has done so during his college career. The 5-foot-10 and 195-pound Boykin started at least one game in each of his first three years in Raleigh before missing the 2024 season due to a knee injury.
The product of Greensboro, N.C. has played in 45 games from 2020 to 2023 and amassed 117 career tackles, 5 tackles for loss, 4 interceptions, 11 passes defensed, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery. Boykin sustained the injury in bowl practice for the 2023 Pop Tarts Bowl. He recorded 54 total tackles and 3 interceptions in 2023. In 2022 Boykin saw action at safety and nickel. He started at nickel versus UConn, Florida State and Louisville. In 2021 Boykin emerged in the second half of the 2021 season, and started four games at strong safety. He turned in the game of his career in a win at Boston College when he broke up a pass in the endzone to deny an Eagle score, then scored a touchdown on a ‘scoop and score’ of a bobbled punt. As a true freshman in 2020 Boykin played for 70 snaps in a win at Virginia. He was one of just three true freshmen to start a game in 2020 for the Pack. Boykin has one season of eligibility remaining.
Four Hoosiers Named to the Softball America Freshman Watch List Indiana’s Jenae Berry, Sydni Burko, Jasmine Reyes and Madalyn Strader were all named to Softball America’s Freshman Watch List on Tuesday. The four freshmen arrived in Bloomington with impressive accolades to their name before even taking the field for the Hoosiers. Berry, a right-handed pitcher from Queen Creek, Ariz., touted a 1.02 ERA in her prep days. Burko is an infielder hailing from Ona, W. Va. She was ranked as the No. 20 overall prospect in the class of 2024 by Extra Innings Softball. In her travel career she had a .554 batting average. Another pitcher from the west coast, Reyes was a three-time pitcher of the year honoree for Ventura County. She sported a 0.87 career ERA for Rio Mesa High School in Oxnard, Calif. Strader is a standout middle infielder from Cedar Park, Texas and was considered the No. 23 overall prospect in the class of 2024 by Extra Innings Softball. As a junior, Strader hit for a .585 batting average.
Indy Ignite outside hitter Leketor Member-Meneh named the Pro Volleyball Federation Player of the Week PVF’s newest franchise has capped its debut week with the league’s first weekly award winner of 2025. After leading her team to victory in its opening match, Indy Ignite outside hitter Leketor Member-Meneh has been named the Pro Volleyball Federation Player of the Week. Member-Meneh and the Ignite opened the season with a 3-1 home victory over the Orlando Valkyries as Member-Menah totaled a team-leading 25 kills in the four-set win. She averaged 6.25 kills in the match with 21 kills over the final three sets as the Ignite rallied from a 1-0 deficit to secure the victory in the contest. Her 27 points and 18 digs also led the squad while her kill total was the most by a PVF player in any match during the opening weekend. Member-Meneh and the Ignite will host Grand Rapids this evening before traveling to Columbus on Saturday in the second week of PVF action. The match versus the Fury will be the first for the league on CBS Sports Network this season.
Indy Eleven Women’s Soccer Team names Brandon Kim as Head Coach Indy Eleven has promoted Brandon Kim to Head Coach of its USL W League team. The Carmel native has been an assistant coach for the Girls in Blue since the team began in 2022, serving as acting head coach for much of the 2024 season. “I am fortunate to have been part of the coaching staff the last three seasons–to be named head coach is an incredible honor,” said Kim. “The Indy soccer community and the Eleven fan base are second to none, to say that I am beyond grateful and excited to be back out on the field with them again in 2025 is an understatement. I would like to thank the club for the opportunity, and I cannot wait to get started.”
During his three-year tenure as assistant coach, Kim helped Indy Eleven become one of only three USL W League teams to make the playoffs in all three years of the league’s history. The Girls in Blue won their third straight division title in 2024, topping the Valley Division for the second consecutive season following a Great Lakes Division title in 2022. Last season, Indy posted a 7-1-2 record with five shutouts and a goal differential of +25, reaching the conference finals. Kim helped Indy Eleven to the 2023 USL W League Championship in front of a record-setting home crowd of 5,419 at Carroll Stadium.
Prior to the Girls in Blue, Kim was an assistant coach at Lady Victory FC in the WPSL and a men’s assistant at Marian University for three seasons. He began his coaching career at Carmel United and Park Tudor. He also is the Indy Eleven Academy Girls U11-U12 Director of Coaching, holding a USSF B Coaching License. As a player, Kim began competing for the Carmel United Soccer Club, and in the inaugural Developmental Academy teams for Indiana Fire Juniors. Following his Carmel High School career, Brandon played soccer for the University of Southern Indiana for one season, while also running track and field for three years before transferring to earn his bachelor’s degree in communications studies at IUPUI.
Kelly Freeland continues her role as Goalkeeper Coach for the Girls in Blue for the fourth season. In 2024, her goalkeepers recorded five clean sheets, with Nona Reason getting three. Reason earned second-team All-USL W League honors in 2023, with Freeland’s goalkeepers notching 10 shutouts with only six goals against on their way to the Valley Division title and the 2023 USL W League Championship. Freeland has coached some of the state’s premier goalkeeping talent in the Indiana Olympic Development Program (ODP) since 2017 and as Director of Goalkeeping with Zionsville Youth Soccer Association (ZYSA) for the last five years. Freeland earned her United Soccer Coaches Level I Goalkeeper Diploma. “I am ecstatic about our staff for 2025,” said Kim. “Kelly and Sierra have both played monumental roles in the team’s success the last three years. I cannot express how invaluable they are to our staff. I coached Kelly as a youth player; seeing her passion grow and lead her into coaching is a very cool thing, even if it makes me feel a little old.”
Sierra Garber enters her fourth season as Head Athletic Trainer for the club’s USL W League squad. Garber served as a Graduate Assistant Athletic Trainer at Western Michigan University, when she enrolled as a master’s student in the Broncos’ Athletic Training program in 2019. Garber began serving as a Sports Medicine Network Professional for the U.S. Soccer Federation’s Youth National Teams in 2019. She served as the Indiana Fire Juniors Academy Athletic Trainer from 2016-18. “There is no one better at her job than Sierra Garber,” said Kim. “She’s extremely dedicated to her craft and the players fully trust in her abilities provide any treatment, recovery or prep they need.”
Rana Hoffbauer joins the Indy Eleven W League coaching staff as assistant coach in 2025. Hoffbauer has coached at the semi-pro, college, high school, and club levels in Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Indianapolis. She coached with Brandon Kim at Park Tudor, helping the Panthers to three Sectional, two Regional, and two Conference championships. Hoffbauer played after college in the W League, WPSL, and UWSL. Collegiately, she began her career at Cincinnati State, earning Regional “Player of the Year” honors. She finished at Marian University, where she still holds the season scoring record. Hoffbauer grew up playing in Cincinnati, with her teams earning second and third place finishes in national tournaments. “Adding Rana to our staff brings me great joy,” said Kim. “Rana gave me one of my first coaching jobs at a time I thought I was only going to coach while I figured out what I was going to do with my life. Little did I know, almost 15 years later, I would be making a career out of it. Rana has been an incredible mentor, confidant, friend and colleague and I am over the moon to be working with her again.”
Lisa Macdonald continues her role as Manager, Team Operations for the Girls in Blue for the fourth season. Macdonald is no stranger to the Eleven’s training home of Grand Park, as she has served as the Administrative Director US Youth Soccer (USYS) Travel for the Westfield Youth Soccer Association (WYSA)/Indy Eleven Academy headquartered at the sports campus since 2014. Macdonald will continue to serve in that capacity concurrently while spearheading the W League club’s team side operations.
Dr. Sarita Sharp returns as the Girls in BlueTeam Chiropractor. She is a familiar face in club circles after serving in a similar capacity for the club’s USL Championship side from 2020-21, when her practice, Alpha Health & Wellness in Indianapolis, served concurrently as the Official Chiropractic Partner of Indy Eleven. The Indy Eleven 2025 USL W League schedule will be announced next month. Home matches are at the Grand Park Events Center in Westfield.
NAIA Names Taylor University Men’s Basketball Player Anton Webb as its Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics announced its men’s basketball National Player-of-the-Week honors on Tuesday, with Taylor’s Anton Webb being voted both the NAIA Offensive and NAIA Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts in Taylor’s wins over No. 22 Indiana Wesleyan and Goshen. Webb averaged 29.5 points, 14.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.0 blocks and 1.0 steals per victory, while shooting at a 64.7-percent clip from the floor in the two wins. Webb posted 26 points on nine-of-12 shooting in a 79-76 win over Indiana Wesleyan, adding eight rebounds and pouring in 19 points during the second half to seal the win.
The senior forward followed that up with 33 points, 20 rebounds, five assists and three blocks in a 110-102 triple-overtime win over Goshen three days later. In that game, Webb had a game-saving block to close regulation, scored the game-tying hoop at the buzzer in the first overtime and then blocked two more shots and drilled a clutch triple in the decisive third overtime. Webb becomes the first TU men’s basketball player to earn a national weekly award since Jason Hubbard did so in December of 2022 and is just the program’s second such honor since Nate Kasper earned the award in 2013. Webb’s NAIA National Athlete-of-the-Week awards are the sixth and seventh for Taylor student-athletes during the 2024-2025 year however, as Webb’s two honors follow a pair from Jaynie Halterman (women’s cross country) and one each from Jameson Chesser (football), Aven Jones (football) and Brianna Rawlings (women’s soccer).