WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Indiana women’s basketball entered its regular-season finale reeling from two straight losses marred by recurring issues from the entire season.
There’s no opponent the Hoosiers would rather see in that situation that Purdue. IU steamrolled its archrival in Bloomington in mid-February in a similar scenario, which led to momentum going into a huge game against Ohio State.
Indiana similarly took care of business at Mackey Arena on Sunday, cruising to a 77-57 victory over the Boilermakers.
Indiana (18-11, 10-8 Big Ten) picked up its 13th consecutive victory over its nemsesis with this result. Graduate students Chloe Moore-McNeil and Sydney Parrish will end their IU careers undefeated against Purdue.
“I love the rivalry. I think it’s a lot of fun,” Parrish said after the game. “I also love competing in games like this, when they have 10,000 fans, and almost 9,000 of them are against us. I think we thrive in those situations, and we knew it was gonna be hard today. But we came out with the win.”
The Hoosiers jumped out to a huge lead in the first quarter thanks to a 22-2 run, and they carried a 24-9 lead into the second quarter. They shot a whopping 64.3 percent from the field in that opening period, while holding Purdue to 25 percent.
The Boilermakers (10-19, 3-15) kept things close the rest of the way. They finished the second quarter even in points with IU, lost the third quarter by four, and lost the fourth quarter by one. But Indiana’s dominant start proved too much for PU to overcome.
Junior Yarden Garzon made history early in the fourth quarter, setting the program record for most career 3-pointers with her 207th triple. The Israeli made it 208 less than a minute later. Garzon finished 6 for 10 from the field and 3 for 6 from 3-point range for 15 points, with seven rebounds, one assist, one turnover, and two steals.
“It’s hard to become the leading — whether it’s 3-point scorer, rebounder — it’s hard to achieve things like that. I don’t know that any of us are (surprised). We get to see it every day, with watching her in practice and then watching her — even in individual instruction. It’s kind of fun to watch a kid like that, that can shoot it the way she shoots it,” head coach Teri Moren said. “For her to get it here at Indiana, I think, is extra special. We’ve really enjoyed being able to coach her and have her in our program.”
Penn State transfer Shay Ciezki enjoyed one of her best games in Big Ten play this season. The junior racked up 18 points on 6-for-13 shooting, with a 2-for-6 mark from beyond the arc. She also added three rebounds, four assists with one turnover, and one steal.
Graduate student Sydney Parrish turned in a strong performance as well. She shot an efficient 9 for 12 from the field and 2 for 5 from 3-point range for a team-high 20 points, and she also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
Junior Lexus Bargesser had to step up for Indiana on Sunday in a big role off the bench. Graduate student Chloe Moore-McNeil dealt with foul trouble for most of the game — she picked up a third foul just over two minutes into the second quarter, and she got a fourth less than two minutes into the second half. So Bargesser played 24 minutes, her most in the last five games. She finished with six points, four rebounds, and tied Ciezki with a team-high four assists.
Indiana will open Big Ten Tournament play on Thursday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. IU will most likely be the No. 8 or No. 9 seed, which would put them in a noon ET game.
Moren is hopeful this win can turn into positive momentum heading into the postseason.
“We can’t lose sight of the fact that when we put it all together, we can be really, really good. And when we do that, I think that we can we can accomplish a lot,” Moren said. “And so I’m hoping that as we go into the Big Ten Tournament, that we can get some momentum, we can string together some really good days of basketball, that we know that are in us, and I know that are in our guys, our team.”
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