Strong third quarter pushes Indiana past Utah 76-68 in NCAA tournament opener

COLUMBIA, S.C. – As expected, the first quarter of Friday’s NCAA tournament game between Indiana and Utah was a feeling-out process for two evenly matched teams.

The Hoosiers and Utes traded buckets, the lead changed hands several times and the opening 10 minutes ended in a 17-17 tie.

After IU junior Yarden Garzon started the second quarter with a 3-pointer, the Hoosiers went scoreless for over two and a half minutes. A Karoline Striplin jump shot stopped the bleeding momentarily, but Indiana’s offense disappeared for nearly four minutes.

Teri Moren and her staff have seen this before. This season, Indiana has continuously struggled in the second quarter, and with it being win or go home the rest of the way, everyone knew something had to change.

Fortunately for the Hoosiers, Utah only scored once during the lengthy drought and never pushed its lead beyond six points. Indiana went into the media timeout at the 4:18 mark of the second quarter and the message was simple: don’t let the game slip away.

“We got together in a huddle and said we need to bring it back,” Shay Ciezki said postgame. “We need to tie this game up going into halftime so we have momentum to come out. And that’s what we did.”

After trailing 28-22, a switch was flipped for IU, allowing the Hoosiers to tie the game at 31 by halftime.

The momentum continued into the second half as the No. 8 seed Hoosiers advanced to the round of 32 with a 76-68 win against the Utes at Colonial Life Arena in the first-ever meeting between the two programs.

With 3-point shooting being the strength of both teams, the thought was that perimeter shooting would determine the outcome of Friday’s matchup. But Indiana’s efficiency inside the arc proved to be the difference.

The Hoosiers were just 5-for-17 (29.4 percent) from the perimeter, but shot a sizzling 24-for-33 on 2s, good for 72.7 percent. Indiana was 10-for-12 in the third quarter and outscored the Utes 27-16. The Hoosiers led 58-47 after 30 minutes.

“I think they came out aggressive,” Utah’s Kennady McQueen said. “I think they were getting to the paint a little bit more than we were, just being the more aggressive team there for a bit in the third quarter.”

Ciezki and Garzon were terrific in that third quarter, commanding the game with transition offense. Garzon led Indiana in scoring with 17 points and Ciezki added 16.

Three other Hoosiers finished with double figures, including Chloe Moore-McNeil, who finished with 12 points, eight assists, five rebounds and two steals.

The frontcourt for Indiana was also impactful as Karoline Striplin shot 5-for-10 from the field for 10 points. Lilly Meister scored 11 points on 15 minutes of play, the most she’s scored since Dec. 28. Meister had eight points in the first quarter.

“You know, pleased with — all the kids that got in and played minutes for us,” Moren said. “You can look at all the kids that five of them were in double-digit scoring, but then I think about Henna (Sandvik) coming in, and we’re down a four player, and we can move her around, and we can move Yarden around. And then Lilly Meister coming in, and she and Strip did such a great job of being there for one another. When Strip went out, Lilly impacted the game; and then when Lilly went out, Strip did the same.”

On an afternoon in which shots weren’t falling from the perimeter, Indiana’s ability to score in the paint and get to the free-throw line was pivotal.

The Hoosiers scored 30 points in the paint and went 13-for-15 from the stripe.

“They do a tremendous job of executing,” Utah coach Gavin Petersen said. “And by that, I mean they’re patient. They wait for screens. They set them up. They use them. And they really caused us to have some mishaps on the defensive end, and that’s the difference of the game.”

The Utes made their push in the fourth quarter, scoring 21 points to Indiana’s 18, but the lead built in the third quarter was too much overcome.

The win, Indiana’s 20th of the season, improved Moren’s record to 7-0 in the opening round of the NCAA tournament during her IU tenure.

The focus will now shift to Sunday afternoon as the Hoosiers will face South Carolina, last season’s national champion. The Gamecocks ended IU’s 2023-24 season last March in the Sweet Sixteen in Albany, New York.

“You know, just, again, a great amount of respect for them,” Moren said. “You know, I can tell you this from a year ago and just knowing our players. Whoever is ahead of us, we will have — because I have a great staff, we will have a really great scouting report. We will be prepared.”

(Photo credit: IU Athletics)

Category: Women’s Basketball

Filed to: