Moren Wins Career Game No. 400 In Season Opener Victory Over EIU
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Four players scored in double figures as No. 9 Indiana rolled past Eastern Illinois, 96-43, in the 2023-24 season opener inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
KEY MOMENTS
- The Hoosiers’ 29-14 start in the first quarter was led by graduate student forward Mackenzie Holmes who put up eight points and three rebounds, assisted by sophomore guard Yarden Garzon who added seven points and two rebounds to the board.
- Senior guard Sara Scalia went 3-for-3 on three-pointers in the first half, totaling 11 points and two rebounds.
- Scalia and Holmes made the difference in the second quarter totaling 12 points and three rebounds, with help from sophomore forward Lily Meister adding four points.
- Holmes opens the third quarter with a dominant block assisting Garzon with a basket, who led the team with eight points pushing the IU lead to 77-32
- The Hoosiers went on a 7-0 run led by Meister and freshman guard Lenée Beaumont late in the third quarter. A buzzer-beater score by sophomore guard Lexus Bargesser finished out the quarter.
- Bargesser leads the team to a strong 96-43 finish in the fourth quarter, matching a career-high nine points and two assists.
NOTABLE
- Moren secured her 400th career win in the victory over Eastern Illinois to kick off her 21st season as a collegiate head coach.
- Graduate student forward Mackenzie Holmes scored 19 points in the win over Eastern Illinois, putting her in third place all-time for the Hoosiers and two points behind 2nd place. She shot 90 percent from the field in the win and recorded 4 blocks.
- The Hoosiers are 36-13 in season openers and hold a 24-5 record in openers at home. IU has won 11-straight openers including all 10 under Head Coach Teri Moren. IU has also started the season at home in 10 of the last 11 seasons, its only road opener at Butler in 2021-22
- Indiana leads the series 4-0, in its first meeting since 1995.
- IU shot 65.2 percent from the field which is the first time at 65 percent since 1998 and third overall in a single game in school history.
- Lexus Bargesser recorded her first career 3-pointer in the victory and set a career high with 15 points. The Grass Lake, Mich. native also hit buzzer beaters to end the first and third quarter.
- Freshman Lenée Beaumont saw her first minutes in action against Eastern Illinois, recording nine points and two assists.
- Garzon recorded six first half assists against Eastern Illinois and ended the night by tying a career-high in seven assists.
- Freshman guard Julianna LaMendola saw her first minutes in action against Eastern Illinois, recording one assist and five rebounds.
- Sophomore guard Henna Sandvik set a career-high in assists with 4, points with 5, and tied her career highs in 3 Pointers made, Field Goals made, and steals.
- All 12 Hoosiers recording minutes in the game, with sophomore forward Sharnecce Currie-Jelks and redshirt senior Arielle Wisne each adding buckets.
QUOTABLE
Indiana head coach Teri Moren
“Well, it was a good night. It’s good to get your first one at home, in front of a great crowd so once again, I’ll probably say this often, we are so grateful for our fans, Hoosier Nation that comes out to support us and create such a great environment for both teams. I get a lot of compliments from the energy in the building, and it has a lot to do with the people inside of it and we’re really grateful for our fans. Again, I thought we got off to a fast start which we wanted too. I thought our defense was slow at first but then it started to pick up. It was just us challenging our group to really sit down and guard the ball better and I thought that happened. I thought Yarden was special in the first half, just with her play making and really just sharing the ball. I thought Lexie came in and gave us great minutes. I thought (Lenée) Beau(mont) made some really nice plays as well. Mack was, once again, really good in low minutes so that’s exciting for us we can manage our minutes as you guys know what we’re trying to do. Looking at the stat sheet, there’s not a lot you can pick at, certainly, the one thing I am going to pick at is our free throws. As I said to them when they congratulated me on my 400th win I said, ‘so we get to shoot 400 free throw tomorrow’ so that’s what they’ll get it.”
UP NEXT
Indiana faces its first road trip of the season when it travels to No. 15/13 Stanford on Sunday at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN.