Yarden Garzon celebrated her birthday not only in the City of Palms in the Florida Sunshine, but she had a Career High 23 points to lead #19 Excel H Sports Ranked Indiana to a 71-57 win over #12 Excel H Sports Ranked Tennessee in the Fort Myers Women’s Tip Off Basketball Tournament at the Sun Coast Credit Union Arena in Fort Myers Florida Thursday Night as it was a good Thanksgiving for the Hoosiers. “We came here to get out of the cold and spend time together” Head Coach Teri Moren Said after the game. “But we want to come back to Bloomington with two wins as this is business trip”. Moren Said. The Hoosiers have won two in a row over Tennessee after winning last season and Knoxville and series between these two teams is all tied up at 2-2. Indiana will face Princeton on Saturday at 11 am in what will be the island division championship game after Princeton beat Oklahoma in the first game while Tennessee will face # 21 Excel H Sports Ranked Oklahoma at 1:30pm on Saturday. “This is the best gift I can give myself” Yarden Garzon said after the game.” It was team effort, and we came to win this game” Garzon Said.
Chloe Moore-McNeil scored the first basket of the game for the Hoosiers 27 seconds into the game. Tennessee tied the game at the 8:22 mark when Destinee Wells scored in the paint. Sydney Parrish drained a three pointer at the 7:51 mark to the give the Hoosiers a 5-2 lead. Tess Darby scored with 6:54 left to put the Lady Vols within one with 6:54 left in the first quarter. Yarden Garzon drained her first three pointer of the game to make it 8-4 with 6:04 left in the first quarter. The Hoosiers answered every time the Vols scored a basket. Mackenzie Holmes picked her second foul with 4:16 left in the first quarter. Indiana 12-9 at the end of the first quarter. Tennessee struggled from the field hitting just 1 for their last 10 at the end of the first quarter. The Lady Vols was 4-22 from the field for 18% while IU was 5-19 from the field for 26% from the field and 2-7 from three-point range for 29% and Tennessee went 0-5 from three-point range. “I am proud of the heart and the way we rebounded on the boards, and we kept cheering them on to rebound because that was going to make the difference in the game” Head Coach Teri Moren said after the game.
In the Second quarter the Indiana defense came to life when there was a five second call on Tennessee with 8:30 left in the second half. Sydney Parrish picked up her second foul with 5:22 left in the second quarter. Indiana went on an 11-0 run until Jasmine Powell ended the run with a three pointer for the Lady Vols. Indiana outscored Tennessee 21-12 in the second quarter as the Hoosiers led 33-21 at half. Indiana 13-34 from the field for 34%, 6-12 from three-point range for 50% and 1-1 from the free throw line. Tennessee was 9-35 from the field for 21%, 2-11 from three-point range for 18 and 1-2 from the free throw line for 50%
In the Second Half Tennessee opened the scoring on a Sara Puckett stole the ball and made a jumper at the other end. Sydney Parrish responded with a three pointer go up 13 points 50 seconds into the third quarter. Puckett made another basket and Indiana responded with an 8-0 to lead by 19 points with 6:28 left in the third quarter. Tennessee could not get any closer than 16 points the rest of the quarter as Indiana led 52-36 at the end of the third quarter. Indiana outscored Tennessee 19-15 in the third quarter. Indiana maintained a double-digit lead throughout the fourth quarter even though the Lady Vols outscored the Hoosiers 21-19 in the fourth quarter.
Garzon had 23 points to lead the Hoosiers and her parents who are back home, in Israel and were able to watch the game which due to the time difference is in the middle of the night. “My mom watches most of my games she never sleeps she is up a lot, but I am happy there are able to watch me and there my biggest supporters so it’s always special” Garzon said. Mackenize Holmes had 17 points 1,984 points which is 380 points behind Tyra Buss for second on the school’s all-time scoring list. Sara Scalia added 10 points The Hoosiers face a tough Princeton team on Saturday and the Hoosiers know that this will be a very tough game with one day rest in between. “We are going to watch film and get back to work for Saturday against Princeton we take every opponent the same and we know that Princeton is a good team. Mackenize Holmes said after the game.
Tennessee got 13 points each from Sara Puckett and Karoline Striplin and 12 points from Jasmine Powell off the bench. Tennessee was missing leading scorer Rickea Jackson with a foot injury and head coach Kellie Harper said there is no timetable for her return. “We miss her but the ones who are out on the floor must get better” Harper said after the game. Harper who played for legendary coach Pat Summitt at Tennessee was not pleased with her team’s defensive effort and they did not want Mackenzie Holmes to touch the ball. “She is one of these players where we say no touch” Harper said in referring to defending Holmes. “She finishes and she is so good with her footwork, and I am not pleased with my teams defense” Harper Said.
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