From the opening tip-off this battle of two nationally ranked teams it was as incredibly physical as could have been imagined. It started out back and forth with fierce positioning inside the paint. Mackenzie Holmes was nothing short of spectacular from the gate, scoring the first 11 Hoosier points, and setting a tough defensive tone.
The referees would set a tone of their own, as their whistles sounded relentlessly. IU Head Coach Teri Moren commented after the game, “there were a lot of whistles . . . we had to adjust . . . [it was tough] to get any momentum and pace.”
Indiana would walk away from the first quarter with a 20-14 lead, but struggled in some key areas, specifically guarding Kentucky on the inbound under their basket, which resulted in 6 easy Wildcat points early in the game.
In the second quarter, Kentucky applied a full court press and capitalized on turnovers, but IU would walk into the locker room at half time up by 6 following one of the game’s biggest highlights. With 3 seconds left in the half, Grace Berger inbounded the ball to Kiandra Browne. She then raced up the court to receive the ball back, dribbled just past halfcourt, and launched a running shot which just barely beat the buzzer. The ball banked off of the backboard and went in, giving Indiana the 38-32 lead along with a rush of excitement and motivation.
The second half saw intensified physical play and more activity from Kentucky’s All-American, Rhyne Howard, who wound up with 9 rebounds and 23 points for the game. IU had difficulty guarding Howard, and had to switch up from Nicole Cardano-Hillary to Ali Patberg in the 3rd quarter. The Hoosiers were on fire offensively in the 3rd, and were able to expand their lead to a dozen. During the 4th quarter, IU maintained a double-digit lead, and walked away with an 88-67 final score in this physical early season match-up.
“Our league is physical. We’re kind of used to the physicality . . . the Big 10 has always prepared us for games like this,” said Coach Moren. She added, “We’re ‘Blue-Collar’, we know who we are!”
Indiana shot 54% from the field, including 6-11 from behind the arc. Indiana also out-rebounded Kentucky 40-30, leading to 20 second-chance points. Mackenzie Holmes exploded for 29 points and added 7 rebounds; Grace Berger had 19 points and 9 rebounds; Ali Patberg had 16 points and 5 assists; Cardano-Hillary had 12 points, 6 rebounds, and 7 assists; and, Aleksa Gulbe had 8 points and 9 rebounds.
Next up, Indiana University takes on the 2-1 Norfolk State Spartans at Assembly Hall at 7pm on Tuesday, November 16th.
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