Indiana women’s basketball needed a big turnaround to pull out its win over Southern Indiana on Wednesday.
But Saturday’s Big Ten opener was a different story. Instead of spending the second half coming back from a deficit, the Hoosiers spent it pulling away. They dominated Penn State after halftime and came away with a 75-60 victory at the Bryce Jordan Center in University Park, Pa.
Indiana (7-3, 1-0 Big Ten) has now won seven consecutive conference openers. Here are three takeaways from IU’s strong performance.
Offense dominant after first quarter
Indiana shot just 25 percent from the field in the first quarter, but completely flipped things around the rest of the way.
In the final three quarters of the game, the Hoosiers shot 62.5 percent from the field and 46.7 percent from 3-point range. They trailed by one point at the end of the first quarter, and then tied it up at halftime. But they stretched their lead out to six by the end of the third quarter, before putting it out of reach in the final period.
Karoline Striplin led the charge, with 27 points — all scored in the final three quarters. But she attributed Indiana’s turnaround more to defensive improvements than any offensive changes.
“Honestly, I think we made some defensive adjustments that contributed to our offense,” Striplin said after the game. “Coach (Teri Moren) was (on us) about knowing our assignments and playing the personnel. And I think that just getting stops on defense helped fuel our offense and give us confidence.”
Poise against the press
Press defenses have caused a lot of problems for IU over the last several years. It’s been one of the biggest weaknesses of Moren’s teams — they’ve regularly struggled against the press.
That’s already happened on multiple occasions this season. Southern Indiana pressed the Hoosiers on Wednesday, and they had some trouble with it. That wasn’t the biggest reason for that game being so close, but Indiana’s lack of poise against the press certainly contributed.
Penn State rolled out a press against IU right away on Saturday, as it does in most games. The Nittany Lions force 22.4 turnovers per game, ranked No. 31 in the country, in large part because of that press defense. But Indiana handled it well, this time.
IU finished with only 12 turnovers, and the press was responsible for only a few of those. Most of the time, the Hoosiers were able to break the press cleanly and set up their offense without trouble. That was a big improvement for them.
“They were really great,” Moren said. “We knew that turnovers were something that Penn State relied on, their press, turning people over. Our turnovers, maybe one, two maybe, out of the 12 came against the press. But I think the others were either charge calls or whatever. But really pleased with how we handled ourselves.”
Career days for Striplin and Garzon
Yarden Garzon had another strong game on Saturday.
The junior drilled a career-high six 3-pointers on 10 attempts, and shot 8 of 14 overall, for 22 points. She added four rebounds, five assists, three steals, and a block. Garzon is leading Indiana this season with 14.6 points per game, and she’s continued to deliver in big moments.
But Striplin, in particular, stole the show.
Her 27 points came just two short of her career high. But she scored those points on a remarkable 12-for-12 shooting line. Striplin joined Mackenzie Holmes as the only IU players to shoot 100 percent in a game.
“Honestly, it was all about confidence, and when I got the ball, just shooting it confidently,” Striplin said. “All that my coaches had been pouring into me before the game, including Mack. So I just felt really confident out there in high post, down low.”
Striplin played well in IU’s season-opener against Brown, with 17 points and five rebounds. She’d faded into more of a secondary role since then, as she hadn’t cracked double-digit scoring again until Saturday.
Moren is looking for the Tennessee transfer to become more consistent. Striplin may not deliver this sort of standout performance every game, but it shows the caliber of play she’s capable of.
“Early on, was very productive for us in preseason and in the summer. We knew what she was capable of doing. But that word consistency is going to keep coming up, especially with she and Lilly (Meister). We have to have some consistency,” Moren said. “I don’t know that she’ll be able every night to be perfect from the field. But they got to be able to have a presence inside and give us some scoring in order for us to achieve the things we want to achieve. There has to be balance.”
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