- Indiana University Women’s Basketball rebounded from 15 days of not playing due to Health and Safety Protocols, followed by a tough road loss to #6 Michigan, on the road. The Hoosiers showed much more energy and team cohesiveness against Minnesota in their 80-70 win at an empty Assembly Hall, which was due to a winter storm which forced the facility to be closed to the public.
- Aleksa Gulbe had a career-high 28 points, shooting 11-15 from the field and going 2-2 from the free throw line. 12 of her points came from 4-4 from beyond the arc. Gulbe played 39 minutes in which she pulled down 5 rebounds and offered one assist. She has really stepped up her game since the departure of All-American Mackenzie Holmes from the starting line-up, due to a knee injury. Gulbe is averaging more than 12 points and 6 rebounds per game over this season.
- Coach Moren provided more playing time to the bench against Minnesota. Kaitlin Peterson saw 14 minutes and scored 3 points; Grace Waggoner had 2 points, a rebound, and 3 blocks in 9 minutes; Chloe Moore-McNeil saw 7 minutes of action; and, Ariel Wisne came in for a brief minute
“I thought Grace Waggoner came in and gave us great minutes in the 4th when we were struggling with their ball-screen action,” said IU Head Coach Teri Morte. “Sara Scalia (Minnesota’s leading scorer) is a tough Guard, and we made a decision to put Wags in there, and it paid off big for us”
“Ariel is a kid we feel like we can use in spot minutes, said Coach Moren. “She got in against Michigan and again tonight (against Minnesota). [She will get in there] when the match-up presents itself with some of those other big kids, 6’5” kids we feel [she] can match up with.”
- Indiana has maintained their defensive prowess. Even though they gave up the most points they have all season, to Minnesota, the streak of not allowing more than 70 points allotted to any team remains.
- Indiana struggled against the zone defense that Minnesota placed throughout the majority of the game. Indiana thrives offensively against man-to-man, and it was shown in both their 6-0 run to start off the second quarter, as well as their 14-0 run to end the game.
- Indiana showed us some new looks on defense – the full-court press, under basket in bounds plays, and alignment on defensive free throws.
“We felt that going into the Michigan game that we had to throw a lot of different defenses at them to keep them off-balance,” explained Coach Moren when asked about the recent use of the full-court press. She mentioned the success that the Hoosiers had in creating turnovers through that approach, although the downfall is in added player fatigue.
“What is also does is gases your team,” Coach said. She added, “what it does is give us something a little different. We have worked on a couple different presses with a couple different looks out of them.”
“We are just trying to give some of our competitors something else they need to worry about,” she said with a smile.
Indiana stats against Minnesota:
Gulbe scored a career high 28 points, Berger had 19 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, Nicole Cardano-Hillary had 14 points, and Ali Patberg added 11. Kiandra Browne, Kaitlin Peterson, and Waggoner all contributed offensively, as well. Indiana was 28-55 from the field for 51 percent, 7-14 from three-point range for 50 percent and 17-20 from the Free Throw Line for 85 percent. The Hoosiers pulled down 34 rebounds, 18 assists, 5 steals, 4 blocks, and committed 12 turnovers.
Next up, #5 Indiana hosts Purdue this coming Sunday at 1pm.
Recent IUWBB News . . .