ASSEMBLY HALL — Less than five minutes into the first iteration of the Indiana-Purdue rivalry of 2025, Purdue head coach Katie Gearlds called her second timeout of the game with Indiana already leading 20-2. A Sydney Parrish layup gave Indiana three straight fast-break buckets. In all three cases, there was not a Boilermaker to be seen in the paint. Purdue’s defense was lost, and they never found it, as Indiana ran away with a comfortable 78-56 victory.
“Our goal coming into the game was to play fast,” said Indiana guard Shay Ciezki. “We knew that was going to be a big priority for us and we came out swinging.”
Indiana led 30-10 after the first quarter and the lead ballooned to 28 by the end of the half. On both sides of the ball, Purdue seemed out of sync. Multiple routine passes found the hands of Indiana players and led to easy run-outs. The Hoosiers turned 13 first-half turnovers into 17 points.
“The first offensive key on the board is always [that] we want to set the pace,” said Indiana head coach Teri Moren. “Today we just got some really, really great hit-aheads. Eyes were up and [we] executed right over the top a couple times. We always want to play that way.
This season, without the dominant post presence of Mackenzie Holmes, Indiana has lived and died by the three-ball. After only hitting three triples in their loss in Ann Arbor on Wednesday, the Hoosiers drained six in the first half alone. Ciezki, Sydney Parrish and Yarden Garzon all finished with multiple makes from deep.
Things slowed down for the Hoosiers in the second half. The margin never got closer than 18, but Indiana lacked the same effectiveness on the ball, turning the ball over 10 times. While Moren graded the first half as an A, she gave the second half a C.
“I think we took some shots that we don’t want to take. I think it had a little bit to do with Purdue’s press. It slowed us down a little bit and made us take time off the clock,” Moren said of the second half. “We’ve got to execute for a full 40 minutes.
Coming off of back-to-back losses on the road Indiana did not need any extra motivation, but for Fishers, Indiana native Sydney Parrish, the win over the in-state rival meant more.
“I think a lot of people know how a kid from Indiana feels about the team up north,” said Parrish. “We had to bring it today.”
Moren, an Indiana native who went a perfect 8-0 against Indiana in her playing career as a Boilermaker, also understands the importance of the rivalry.
“It’s fun to be a part of something that gets people so excited. Whether it’s football, whether it’s basketball, any sport, when it’s Purdue-Indiana, there’s going to be some specialness to it. The fact that we’ve been able to do what we’ve been able to do the last several years has been really special for me, but for our players as well,” said Moren. “I think Syd set the table for us today as far as this is an important game and that we need to keep that trophy here for another season.”
Indiana moves to 17-3 in the head-to-head under Moren and retains the Barn Burner Trophy.
With just four regular-season games remaining and the Hoosiers sitting just on the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble, Indiana enters a crucial three-game stretch against ranked opponents. They host No. 9 Ohio State in Assembly Hall on Thursday at 7 p.m.
