Hoosiers Derail Boilers on Senior Day 

By Nick Jenkinson

   The Indiana Hoosiers closed out the regular season Sunday Afternoon with a 77-57 win over the Purdue Boilermakers before a crowd of 10,512 fans at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette. Indiana has won 13 in a row over Purdue and the last six at Mackey Arena dating back to 2020. The Hoosiers are 16-28 all-time in West Lafayette against Purdue as the Boilermakers lead the all-time series 53-44. Purdue’s last win in the series came at Mackey Arena on January 20, 2019, 56-53.

   Indiana finishes the regular season at 18-11 and overall and 10-8 in the Big Ten and will be the Number seed in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament that starts on Wednesday in Indianapolis. Indiana will play at Noon on Thursday against Number 8 Oregon with the winner taking on Top Seed USC at Noon on Friday. Chloe Moore-McNeil played in her program record 149th game breaking the record that Grace Berger set from 2018-23 with 148. Purdue finishes the regular season at 10-19 and 3-15 in the Big Ten and will miss the Big Ten Tournament after Rutgers beat Penn State to slide into the 15th and final spot and send Purdue to 16th place as Rutgers beat Purdue earlier in the season as the head-to-head tiebreaker.

   Sydney Parrish led the way with 20 points, Shay Ciezki added 18 and Yarden Garzon scored 15 points to lead Indiana. The Hoosiers finished the game 28-53 from the field for 52%, 7-20 from three-point range for 35% and a perfect 14-14 from the free throw line. Indiana pulled down 36 rebounds, dished out 15 assists, 5 steals, 3 blocks and committed 12 turnovers.

   Lana McCarthy led Purdue with 15 points and Sophie Swanson added 11 points both off the bench. Purdue finished the game 23-63 from the field for 36%, 5-23 from three-point range and 6-10 from the free throw line for 60%. The Boilermakers pulled down 29 rebounds, 12 assists, 6 steals, 1 block and committed 10 turnovers.

    Purdue jumped out to a 6-5 lead McKenna Layden and Destini Lombard hit back-to-back triples to start the game. Indiana went inside to Karoline Striplin to get the Hoosiers on the board and Shay Ciezki hit a three pointer. Yarden Garzon gave the Hoosiers an 8-6 lead with her program record tying 206th career three pointer with 7:09 left in the first quarter tying Kris McGrade who has held the record since 1994. Indiana outscored Purdue 22-3 the rest of the quarter including a 12-0 run to lead the Boilermakers 24-9 at the end of the first quarter.

   Lana McCarthy who got into early foul trouble in the previous matchup against Indiana scored 7 second quarter points as the Boilermakers got within nine points at 30-21. Indiana increased the lead outscoring Purdue 9-3 the rest of the quarter as the Hoosiers led 39-24 at halftime. Both teams scored 15 points in the second quarter. Sydney Parrish and Shay Ciezki combined for 23 of the 39 points as Parrish scored 12 and Ciezki scored 11 as Lana McCarthy led the Boilermakers with 9 points.

   In the Third Quarter Chloe Moore-McNeil picked up her fourth foul with 8:30 left in the third quarter as Boilermakers got within 10 points at 52-42 with 4:07 left in the fourth quarter. The Hoosiers ended the quarter on a 11-2 run as Indiana was in control leading 63-44 at the end of the third quarter as the home crowd headed for the exits with Indiana outscoring Purdue 24-20 in the fourth quarter.

  In the Fourth Quarter Yarden Garzon hit two three pointers with the first one to set the all-time program record for most three pointers in Indiana Women’s Basketball History and hit the second one to give her 208 for her career two ahead of Kris McGrade. Purdue never got closer than 16 the rest of the way as the Hoosiers continue to dominate the Boilers and spoil their Senior Day.