Holmes, Scalia and Parrish combine for 57 points as #15 Excel H Sports Ranked Indiana handles Minnesota.
By Nick Jenkinson\Excel H Sports
The #15 Excel H Sports Ranked Indiana Hoosiers bounced back after a 27-point loss at Iowa last Saturday Night as they handled the Minnesota Golden Gophers 85-62 Wednesday Night in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Mackenize Holmes, Sara Scalia and Sydney Parrish scored 69 of the Hoosiers 85 points. Holmes scored a season high 32 points, Scalia scored 22 points against her former team and Parrish added 15 points. Yarden Garzon scored 7 points, Chloe Moore-McNeil chipped in 4 points, Rochester Minnesota native Lilly Meister added 3 points and Lexus Barggeser added 2 points. The Hoosiers are 15-2 overall and 6-1 in the Big Ten and travel to archrival Purdue on Sunday afternoon. The Hoosiers were not happy about their performance at Iowa Saturday Night but as Mackenize Holmes said after the game it’s on to the next game. “The Big Ten doesn’t wait for nobody, we got to move on (about Iowa), we got back really late after the game, came in on Monday ready to work” Holmes said.
Indiana finished 33-56 for 59% from the field, 11-24 from three-point range and 8-12 for 66% from the free throw line. The Hoosiers pulled down 32 rebounds, dished out 23 assists, 6 steals, 3 blocks and committed 10 turnovers. The Hoosiers scored 44 points in the paint, 19 points off turnovers and 5 points off the bench along with 18 fastbreak points. When the Hoosiers are playing well, they are hard to stop, and that second quarter spurt showed that. “This is really good basketball team when there connected, when there playing fast, when there sharing the ball, when there intentional about what their assignments are defensively” Indiana Head Coach Teri Moren said after the game.
Minnesota was led in scoring by Grace Grocholski with 19 points, Mara Braun scored all 14 of her points in the second half and Amaya Battle added 13 points. The Golden Gophers finished 24-57 from the field for 42%, 6-15 from three-point range for 40% and 8-13 from the free throw line for 61%. Minnesota had 29 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals, a block and committed 15 turnovers. Minnesota scored 24 points in the paint, 11 points off turnovers, 7 bench points and 6 fastbreak points. Minnesota is 13-4 overall and 3-3 in the Big Ten.
In the first quarter there were five lead changes and three ties. Mackenize Holmes scored 11 first quarter points doing what she always does getting in the low block and scoring with her famous scoop shot as she went 5-6 from the field and 1-1 from free throw line. Sydney Parrish lit it up from three-point range going 3-4 from downtown scoring 9 points as the pair combined for 20 of the Hoosiers 23 first quarter points. Sara Scalia knocks down a three and was 1-3 from three-point range and 1-4 from the field as Indiana led 23-18 after the first quarter. In the second quarter it was the Scalia and Holmes show as the pair combined for 20 of the 24 points in the quarter with Yarden Garzon scoring the other four. Scalia went 3-5 from deep, 5-7 from field and 1-2 from free throw line while Holmes went a perfect 3-3 as Indiana went into the locker room up 47-29 at break. Indiana used two runs of 7-0 and 10-0 to lead by as many as 20 points as Minnesota did not score a field goal for the final 4:21 of the quarter. Sara Scalia and Mackenize Holmes led the Hoosiers with 17 points each at the break and Minnesota was led by Grace Grocholski with 10 points and leading scorer Mara Braun was held scoreless going 0-2 from the field with 2 rebounds and an assist.
In the third quarter Minnesota outscored the Hoosiers 18-17 but the Hoosiers led 64-47 at the end of third quarter. Mackenize Holmes scored 8 points along with a three pointer from Parrish and Scalia. Chloe Moore-McNeil scored on a beautiful pass from Holmes cutting to the basket and Lilly Meister scored on a free throw. Mara Braun scored 6 points in the third quarter along with 6 from Amaya Battle but the Golden Gophers went 0-5 from three-point range. In the fourth quarter Indiana outscored Minnesota 21-13 as the Hoosiers ended the game on a 7-0 run and hit four of their last five field goals. Indiana had balance effort in the fourth quarter as Holmes scored 7 points and six other players chipped in points.
The Hoosiers tied the all-time series with Minnesota at 37-37 as Indiana has won the last seven meetings dating back to 2019 along with ten of the last 11 meetings since February of 2016 and won the last three meetings with Minnesota at home.
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