Top seed Indiana Women’s Basketball loses heartbreaker to #9 Miami in NCAA Second Round The #9 seed Miami Hurricanes made their first trip to Bloomington and advance to Sweet 16 for just the second time in school history with 70-68 win over the #1 Seed Indiana Hoosiers Monday Night in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament second round of the Greenville 2 regional at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall before a crowd of 14,480 which is the second largest crowd in Indiana Women’s Basketball history. Miami improves to 21-12 and has not been to a Sweet 16 since 1992 and they are now 2-7 all time in second round games. The Hurricanes are 10-15 overall in NCAA Tournament and 7-9 in the NCAA Tournament under head coach Katie Meier. Lola Pendande scored 19 points and pulled down 7 rebounds, Destiny Harden scored 18 points and Jasmyne Roberts scored 16 points. Twin Sisters Haley and Hanna Cavinder scored 9 and 3 points each. Miami finished 22-47 from the field for 46%, 8-14 from three-point range for 57% and 18-25 for 72%. Miami pulled down 35 rebounds, dished out 15 assists, 5 steals, 5 blocks and committed 13 turnovers.
Indiana finished 28-4 which is the best record in school history. The Hoosiers were looking for their 3rd straight trip to the sweet 16 and high hopes to make even more history looking to get to the final four. Indiana is now 9-9 all time in NCAA Tournament games and 8-5 under Teri Moren. Indiana is 2-3 all time second round games and Miami ends the Hoosier’s perfect home record this season at 17-1. Mackenzie Holmes scored 22 points and pulled down 9 rebounds. Holmes missed the game Saturday with a knee Injury. Grace Berger scored 17 Points and Yarden Garzon scored 10 points. Indiana finished the game 25-61 from the field for 41%, 5-15 from three-point range for 33%, 13-17 from the free throw line for 76%. The Hoosiers pulled down 29 rebounds, dished out 17 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks and committed 7 turnovers.
Miami jumped out to a 14-4 lead 4:25 left in the first quarter. Lola Pendande and Destiny Harden combined for all 14 points. Pendande went to work inside and Harden hit two three pointers. After the timeout Sara Scalia was able to score inside. Haley Cavinder scored the first two points for the Canes that was not by Harden or Pendande. Cavinder would score her second bucket along with Jasmyne Roberts silencing the home crowd with her basket as Miami led 20-12 at the end of the first quarter. Miami opened the second quarter with a Destiny Harden three pointer to lead by 11. Pendande would score her 10th point of game with a bucket inside to take the lead to 28-14 three minutes into the second quarter. Indiana went on a 6-0 run which was ended by a Hanna Cavinder three pointer. The Hoosiers able to chip away as Chloe Moore-McNeil hit a three that cut the lead to 5 with 2:35 left before the break. Miami answered with a Roberts three pointer as the lead went back to eight points and then Roberts added the free throw after being fouled by Lilly Meister. Grace Berger scored on her mid-range jumper to get the Hoosiers back within Nine before Roberts drilled a three pointer to give Miami a 41-29 lead going into the locker room. Grace Berger opened the third quarter with a three pointer and then hit a jumper to cut the Miami lead to seven points before Jasmyne Roberts scored Miami went back up by nine. Mackenize Holmes scored on back-to-back buckets to cut the lead to five points with 7:07 left in the third quarter 43-38. Holmes went to work doing what she does scoring inside as she cut the Canes lead to 43-40. The game got very physical and neither team could score a basket. Destiny Harden hit three free throws to make it 46-40 with 2:26 left. Mackenzie Holmes hit two free throws to cut the lead to 4. Holmes scored inside to cut the lead two but Roberts hit another three, but Indiana answered with Sydney Parrish getting the bucket but missing the free throw keep the lead at three. Holmes scored right before the third quarter buzzer as Miami led 49-48.
In the Fourth Quarter both teams struggled to score as the physical play continued Lola Pendande hit a free throw to put the Canes up two 50-48. The 6-4 senior from Spain would go back to the line and hit two free throw to put the Canes up four. Indiana would break the scoring drought with Yarden Garzon hitting a three pointer as the Hoosiers were back within one 52-51. Pendande got herself back to the line hitting two free throws as the Canes led 54-51. Miami attacked inside as Lashae Dwyer scored and was fouled by Garzon as she completed the three-point play as Miami went up 6. Garzon found Holmes inside as Indiana trailed by four. Garzon missed the first and hit the second free throw as the Hoosiers trailed 57-54. Dwyer hit first free throw and missed the second as they Canes led 58-54. The Game became a battle of free throws as Chloe Moore-McNeil hit two free throws to get the Hoosiers within two 58-56 and Mackenzie Holmes tied the game 58-58 with a bucket. Jasmyne Roberts hit two free throws as the Canes led 60-58 but Mackenzie Holmes scored and was fouled tying the game with 3:05 left and missed the free throw. Lola Pendande scored over Holmes as Miami went up 62-60. Haley Cavinder drained a three as the Canes went up 5 with a 1:34 left. Grace Berger hit two free throws as Indiana was down by 3. Yarden Garzon tied the game up with a three pointer with 49.5 seconds left. After getting fouled by Grace Berger, Destiny Harden hit the first free throw and missed the second as the Canes led 66-65 with 40 seconds left. Chloe Moore McNeil missed a drive to the basket and the Hoosiers committed the foul with 20.9 seconds left. Harden missed both free throws giving the Hoosiers one last chance. Grace Berger missed the shot and Sydney Parrish committed her fifth foul sending Haley Cavinder to the line as she hit both giving Miami a 68-65 lead with 12 seconds left. Yarden Garzon hit a three pointer with 6.6 seconds left to tie the game 68-68. Destiny Harden scored in the lane as the IU fans wanted a travel but did not get one a Miami led 70-68 with just 3 seconds left. Chloe Moore McNeil brought the ball up the floor and was not able to get a shot off as the clock hit zero and Indiana’s best season in school history came to an end.
Freshman Yarden Garzon set the Indiana record for most three pointers by a freshman. Garzon came here from Israel and earn all-Big Ten Freshman team is thankful to be a Hoosier. “I am grateful to be here and thankful for all my coaches and teammates but this hurts”. The Hoosiers lose Grace Berger and Alyssa Geary to graduation and Coach Teri Moren knows that in a couple weeks when the team regroups for next season there will be a big piece missing. “We will have a couple weeks off and when we regroup it will be weird not to see Grace Berger walking through that door, this program is not where we would the last five years without Grace Berger” Moren said after the game. The Hoosiers have a lot to be proud of with a Big Ten Regular Season Championship, School record for Wins in a season and Number 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament along with record crowds in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
Indiana University Men’s Basketball ends season with a loss to Miami in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament Isaiah Wong and Jordan Miller led a decisive second-half spurt for Miami, which beat Indiana 85-69 Sunday night in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to reach its second straight Sweet 16 at the MVP Arena in Albany New York. Wong, the Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year who was limited to five points in a first-round win over Drake, had 27 points and eight rebounds for coach Jim Larrañaga’s fifth-seeded Hurricanes (27-7), the only ACC team left in March Madness. Miller, who had seven points on Friday, scored 19, while Indianapolis native and Lawrence Central HS Graduate Nijel Pack had 10 of his 12 points in the first half, getting Miami off to a fast start that allowed it to lead most of the game and end Indiana’s hopes of a sixth national title. Miami will face top-seeded Houston in the Midwest Region semifinals in Kansas City, Missouri, on Friday.
All-American Trayce Jackson-Davis had 23 points and eight rebounds for the Hoosiers (23-12), who have not been to the Sweet 16 since 2016. Freshman Jalen Hood-Schifino added 19 points and Race Thompson had 11. Indiana coach Mike Woodson knew his team was in trouble early and called a timeout less than two minutes into the game with Miami ahead 6-0. Miami didn’t lose the lead until Indiana went on a 13-0 run bridging the halves to push ahead 43-40. The game was tied at 49-all when Miller, who spent a great deal of time denying Jackson-Davis the ball, hit a layup to ignite a 16-4 burst. Wong hit two 3-pointers and Miller had seven points during that stretch. Miami led 69-60 when Wong drilled a 3 late in the shot clock, Bensley Joseph followed with a steal, and Miller fed Joseph in the corner for a wide-open 3 that made it 75-60 with 3:23 left.
Teri Moren named 2023 Werner Ladder Nasmith Women’s Coach of the Year finalist Indiana head coach Teri Moren has been named a 2023 Werner Ladder Naismith Women’s Coach of the Year finalist, announced by the organization on Monday. The award is presented to college basketball’s most outstanding coach. In her ninth season at the helm of Indiana, she has led her squad to a multitude of new program first and record setting numbers in the 2022-23 season. With a 28-3 overall record and a first-place finish in the Big Ten this season, its first regular season title in 40 years, with a mark of 16-2 mark. Indiana is the only team nationally to have nine top 25 wins this season, five of which came against top 5 opponents and currently rank fifth in the NET.
They rank in the top 10 nationally in five team categories, highlighted by its 50.0 field goal percentage, which is second amongst all Division I teams. Indiana is also fourth in scoring margin (+19.5), sixth in scoring offense (81.3) and assist-to-turnover ratio (+1.43) and seventh in assists per game (18.3). The Hoosiers have been ranked in both national polls consecutively for the last three seasons and are No. 2 in the WBCA/USA Today coaches poll and the Associated Press Top 25. They earned the program’s first ever No. 1 seed in the 2023 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. On Jan. 18 in a win at Illinois, Moren became the program’s all-time winningest coach with 189 career victories. She holds a current record of 199-92 (.683) in her nine seasons leading the program and eclipsed the 200 win mark at IU in the victory over Tennessee Tech on Saturday in the NCAA First Round. Moren was also named the 2023 Big Ten Coach of the Year, her second league honor as she also earned the selection in 2016.
Once again, this year fans will have a say in the determining the winner. Starting March 21 fans can visit www.naismithfanvote.com or on Twitter (@MarchMadnessWBB) and @naismithtrophy) to cast their ballot for one of these four Werner Ladder Naismith Coach of the Year finalists. Voting ends at 12 p.m. EDT on March 28 and fans are limited to one vote per day. The fan vote will account for 5% of the total vote.
Indiana University Softball Player Taryn Kern earns second Co Big Ten and Freshman of the week awards Indiana freshman Taryn Kern earns Big Ten Co-Player and Freshman of the Week awards for the second straight week. She held a batting average of .667 on the week as the Hoosiers picked up a win against Belmont and swept the two-game series against Northwestern State and Memphis. Kern’s offensive production has propelled Indiana to 12 straight wins as she went eight for 12 at bat with six free passes, four hit by pitch and 10 runs scored on the weekend.
Her OPS was 2.735 with an eye-popping slugging percentage of 1.917 and an on base percentage of .818 including four home runs, one double, one triple and 11 RBI. The San Jose, Calif., native leads the team in home runs (9) and the Big Ten in five categories: slugging percentage (.910), OBS (.574), OPS (1.484), RBI (36) and HBP (9). She is also holds the second most runs scored (30) in the Big Ten. The Hoosiers will begin conference play with No. 22 ranked Maryland at Andy Mohr Field this weekend. The first game of the series is set for Friday at 6pm.
Indiana University Baseball Player Devin Taylor named Big Ten Freshman of the Week Indiana University Freshman Devin Taylor has been named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week as the conference announced the weekly awards on Monday. This is the first honor for Taylor who is an outfielder and designated hitter from La Salle High School in Cincinnati Ohio. Taylor is the first Indiana Freshman to win the award since Josh Pyne won it on April 27, 2022
Taylor batted .467 (7-for-15) with three home runs and four extra-base hits in a three-game sweep of Morehead State and a loss at Kentucky. He Homered twice against Morehead State on March 15, tying the game in the ninth inning with a blast as the Hoosiers went on to win in extra innings and scored seven runs, drew four walks and compiled a .579 on-base percentage. The Hoosiers will host Ohio State in a three-game series at Bart Kaufman Field starting Friday at 6pm.
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