BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana women’s basketball’s rollercoaster ride of a season is at a
high after the Hoosiers put together a cohesive 78-53 win over the Maine Black Bears at
Assembly Hall on Sunday afternoon.
Indiana defeated No. 18/17 ranked Baylor and lost by 30 points to No. 16/15 North Carolina
Chapel Hill all in the week leading up to this matchup. The Hoosiers still showed no signs of
struggle despite also losing fifth year guard Sydney Parrish to a left knee injury in the win
against Baylor.
Indiana faces a unique struggle of balancing critique, positivity, and flexibility in this up and
down sequence of games.
“Yes, we needed criticism,” said fifth year guard Chloe Moore-McNeil on the outcomes of
Indiana’s games in the Bahamas. “We needed to see ourselves, but also understanding we
did do some good things in that tournament as well. So, it’s having the balance of staying
connected, but realizing we need to connect some things.”
That course has come with a lot of injury for the Hoosiers. The team was about to see junior
guard Lexus Bargesser back from injury when Parrish got hurt. Those changes have forced
some of Indiana’s depth like sophomore guard Julianna LaMendola to step up. LaMendola
put up three defensive rebounds, two blocks, and a steal on the Hoosiers win.
“You always have to sit on the edge of your seat, because you just never know when your
name, your number is going to be called,” head coach Teri Moren said. “You got to be able
to come in and help us and so I’m really proud of how they stuck together in spite of some
challenges that we’ve been through early in the season.”
Parrish’s timeline currently sits “at least a couple weeks,” per Moren on the pregame radio
interview. Moren also shared postgame that sophomore guard Lenée Beaumont will
undergo a procedure on her knee in the coming weeks.
The Hoosiers were still able to find their best shooting percentage of the season with 53
percent from the field and 50 percent from three, shooting a perfect 100 percent from the
field and three for the first five minutes of game play. Moore-McNeil went almost perfect
from three on her own, shooting 4-5 with 22 points on the day. Lilly Meister cracked open
the score in the third quarter where she drained 14 of her 18 points of the game.
“Our game plan is really just to get the ball moving and get it in and out,” said Meister.
“Obviously, you know, if I have a good steal, or if I feel like I have an advantage, I’m going to
try and score.”
All of the dicerent player contributions sealed Maine’s losing fate in this game. The bigger
question is will Indiana be able to find consistent success while relying on so many pieces
to perform. The Hoosiers only have one more non-conference matchup before they begin
Big Ten play on the road against Penn State. Indiana will see Southern Indiana at home on
Wednesday to build on their success on Sunday and try to pocket another win before
conference play.
