Indiana Women’s Basketball Beats Rutgers 66-54 in Big Ten Tournament

INDIANAPOLIS, UNITED STATES – 2022/03/03: Rutgers Scarlet Knights guard Lasha Petree (0) plays against Indiana Hoosiers guard Chloe Moore-McNeil (22) and Indiana Hoosiers forward Aleksa Gulbe (10) during the Women’s Big Ten Tournament an NCAA women’s basketball game on March 03, 2022 in Indianapolis, Ind. Indiana beat Rutgers 66-54. (Photo by Jeremy Hogan/The Bloomingtonian)

By Nick Jenkinson

Indiana Women’s Basketball Beat Rutgers 66-54 in the second round of the Big Ten tournament at Gainbridge Fieldhouse Thursday Afternoon. The Hoosiers are the 5^th seed and will face 4^th seed Maryland tomorrow at 2 pm in the quarterfinals. Indiana is 20-7 overall and keeps their hopes alive for a top 16 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. This was the first meeting between the two teams after the regular season meeting scheduled at Rutgers Last December was postponed and not rescheduled due to COVID-19 concerns.

The Hoosiers led 32-26 at halftime and outscored the Scarlet Knights 34-26 in the 2^nd half. Ali Patberg led the Hoosiers with 19 points, Grace Berger added 17 and Mackenzie Holmes scored 11 points. The Hoosiers were without Sophomore Forward Kiandra Browne who had sore hip after reaggravating it against Maryland Last Friday. Arielle Wisne provided 5 minutes off the bench to help in Browne’s absence. Nicole Cardano-Hillary had 9 points along with 5 steals and 2 assists. Aleska Gulbe scored 6 points and Chloe Moore-McNeil added 4 points for the Hoosiers. The Hoosiers shot 45 % from the field, 6-15 from three-point range for 40 percent and 16-21 from 76 percent from the foul line.

Rutgers end the season at 12-20. Osh Brown had a double-double with 12 rebounds and 10 points. Sayawani Lassiter added 12 points. Lassiter said in the post-game press conference that Nicole Cardano-Hillary “is a gnat and is everywhere, she is a good player”. The Scarlet Knights shot 36 % from the field, 2-10 from three-point line for 20% and 6-11 from the free throw line for 54 percent.

Maryland is the 4^th seed in tournament, the Terrapins and Hoosiers split the season series with Indiana winning 70-63 in overtime January 2 in Bloomington which was the Hoosiers first ever win in this series and Maryland won Last Friday 67-64 in the regular season finale. The Hoosiers will have to contend with Angel Reese who put up a double-double against the Hoosiers in both matchups. Indiana Head Coach Teri Moren likes the matchup with Maryland playing them a week ago. “I think it’s a huge advantage for us, we know when can beat them doing it and Bloomington and we feel good on a neutral floor”. Coach Moren Said in Post-Game Press Conference.