Indiana women’s basketball beats Bowling Green 96-61 Thursday

Special to The Bloomingtonian, by Skip Daley – South Central Indiana News Network

The 12^th nationally ranked Indiana Hoosiers (3-0) hosted the Falcons of Bowling Green (2-0) on Thursday night at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in front of a crowd of nearly 3700.

Bowling Green has a quick-paced game and challenged Indiana along the perimeter, but they shot only 22% from the field in the first quarter and were out rebounded 18-6 after the first ten minutes of play. Indiana led 28-10 heading into the second quarter.

At the mid-way point, Indiana had amassed a 28-point lead, shooting 58% from the field, including 14 points from the bench. The only challenge the stat box would read after 20 minutes of play was 13 Indiana turnovers.

“Certainly, I’m disappointed with the 18 turnovers, it’s far too many,” said Indiana Head Coach Teri Moren, after the game.

“A lot of those were not forced turnovers, they were unforced turnovers . . . tonight was one of those nights where we had the silliness of traveling, Sara [Scalia] had a travel, [Mackenzie Holmes] had a couple travels, and Grace [Berger] had a charge,” Coach continued. “A lot of those turnovers are on us, not Bowling Green, so we have to address that.”

But there is plenty to celebrate tonight, as the team, once again, played as a complete unit to claim the win. At the final buzzer, the scoreboard read 96-61, and there are many positive stories within the final score. Indiana had 6 players end the game in double figures, with Sara Scalia leading the way, scoring 17, including 2 from beyond the arc. Mackenzie Holmes had 16; Grace Berger had 14; Sydney Parrish and Yarden Garzon each with 11; and Chloe Moore-McNeil had 10.

Sydney Parrish, the Junior transfer from Oregon, experienced her first IU Double-Double (11 points and 10 rebounds). Kaitlyn Peterson came off the bench to score 6 and add 4 steals. The Hoosiers had 25 team assists and held their 4^th consecutive opponent to 10 or fewer second-chance points.

Next up for IU is a 1 pm Sunday home game against Quinnipiac, a team that seriously challenged the Hoosiers last year on the road.