From the opening tip the Hoosiers played with a sense of purpose. Their challenge was to defeat the perennial conference champions, 11th nationally ranked and 4th B1G Tournament seed Maryland. The two teams split the regular season matchups, each winning at their home court. IU’s early January win over the Terps was the first and only time in program history that IU was able to beat them . . . but that would soon change.
IU looked sharp on Defense from the onset, demonstrating several different looks in the paint, attempting to thwart the productivity of Maryland’s Sophomore Center, Angel Reese. Reese had taken IU for a double/double in each of their previous games this season, and while she would threepeat that accomplishment, the pressure applied in the defensive post by IU would eliminate the inside-outside ease with which the Terps facilitate their ball movement.
Maryland has an entire team of shooters, and their style is to free up the perimeter game by dishing the ball to their post players and allowing them to redistribute outside for an open look. Indiana did an effective job, however of both jamming the paint and crowding the arc.
“Well, we knew again that we were going to have to be extra special on [the defensive] side of the ball. And so, our mentality was, one, to be aggressive; two, to take some calculated risk in terms of blitzing and trying to get in gaps and just trying to be active with our hands,” said IU Head Coach Teri Moren.
One defensive switch that worked well early in the game was bringing Guard Grace Berger in on the low double team of both Reese and Forward Chloe Bibby.
“Certainly, there’s some rotations . . . and your kids have to react to that,” said Coach Moren. “So, again, I thought they followed the game plan to a T in terms of how, and we wanted to execute on [the defensive] side. Obviously, Grace was terrific. And then Lex just showed up in a big kind of way, I thought, especially going down the stretch with some big boards and just really showed a lot of resilience. She was relentless. We talk about Maryland being relentless on the glass. I thought Aleksa Gulbe was relentless today as well, and really proud of her toughness, but not surprised.”
Gulbe had a great defensive showing, pulling down 11 boards and blocking or batting away 4 shots.
On offense, it was Berger and Junior Forward Mackenzie Holmes putting together a bulk of the point production for the Hoosiers. Berger had 16 points and 4 assists. Nicole Cardano-Hillary had 9 points, 3 assists, and 4 steals; Gulbe had 7 points to go with her 11 rebounds and 4 blocks; Ali Patberg had 6 points and 4 assists; and, Chloe Moore-McNeil added 7 points off the bench. Holmes led with 17 points, showing great stride in her rehabbing of the knee injury which kept her sidelined for 6 weeks.
“I mean, I’m just going to keep working hard, doing what I need to do for my team,” said Holmes. “I’m not really focused on my knee or myself. I’m trying to just shift my focus on winning a Big Ten Championship and doing whatever it takes.”
Indiana’s 62-51 victory advances them into the Semi-final round of the 2022 B1G Tournament. IU will play #1 seeded Ohio State Saturday at 3:30pm inside the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Downtown Indianapolis. The winners will play for the Conference Title on Sunday against the winner of the #2 seed Iowa vs. #6 seed Nebraska game, which will be played at 6pm on Saturday.
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