BLOOMINGTON — There were shades of the 2022-23 Big Ten Tournament on Thursday night as the Indiana women’s basketball team struggled to put away No. 8 Ohio State.

The Hoosiers went into the fourth quarter up by 18 points, but there were some tense moments at Assembly Hall as they struggled to find consistent offense. It brought back memories from when IU lost as the conference’s top seed to the Buckeyes after leading by 24 points in the second half.

Yarden Garzon, who was on the floor for that game two years ago, made sure history didn’t repeat itself. After Ohio State threatened to cut the lead under 10 points, she scored seven straight points to give her team a 71-61 win. She finished the game with 16 points, 11 rebounds and six assists as one of four Hoosiers in double digits.

Shooter’s touch: When Yarden Garzon scores big, IU women win. Can she lead them to the NCAA Tournament?

It was a critical Quad 1 win for IU (17-9, 9-6 Big Ten) against a No. 8 Ohio State team sitting near the top of the conference.

Indiana women’s extra effort pays off against the Buckeyes

Lexus Bargesser’s extra effort late in the third quarter told the story of Thursday night’s game.

Garzon tried to hit Bargesser on a fast break with an off-balanced cross-court pass in the final minute of the third quarter. The pass could have easily gone out of bounds, but Bargesser dove to the ground and corralled the ball while IU coach Teri Moren frantically signaled for a timeout.

Bargesser’s hustle resulted in a 3-pointer at the buzzer from Shay Ciezki out of the timeout that pushed the Hoosiers lead to 18 points.

Mind on March: Indiana women’s basketball March Madness projections, bracketology for Feb. 18

Moren has been critical of her team’s lax effort at times this season — she called out her team after a 66-56 loss to Minnesota for getting beat to every 50/50 ball — but that wasn’t a problem against the Buckeyes (22-4, 11-4). IU dominated the glass with a 34-20 edge and played tremendous defense while rotating from a 2-3 zone to man defense.

Indiana women’s basketball puts No. 8 Ohio State on notice in opening minutes

The game got off to a frenetic start. 

Ohio State was 4 of 5 in the opening minutes with Jaloni Cambridge scoring six points including a contested 3-pointer. Indiana was even better — the Hoosiers hit their first five shots and forced the Buckeyes to abandon their vaunted full-court press by effortlessly getting the ball down the court. 

Sydney Parrish capped off the quarter with a pair of free throws to give IU its largest lead of the game at 26-17. She built on her big performance against Purdue with 12 points and two assists in the first. She knocked down a 3-pointer with 3:58 to go that forced OSU coach Kevin McGuff to angrily call a timeout.

Insider: IU women’s basketball dominated Purdue. Hoosiers hope it’s launching point for tough stretch

The Hoosiers finished the quarter with nine assists on 10 made field goals and only two turnovers. 

Outside of a brief blip at the start of the second when IU turned it over on three of its first four possessions of the quarter, the Hoosiers dominated. They closed out the first half on a 14-2 run while shooting 63% in the first half and holding OSU scoreless for three-plus minutes. 

Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.