No. 16 Hoosiers Rout Bowling Green In Non-Conference Finale
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Senior guard Sara Scalia put up an IU career-high 32 points as No. 16 Indiana cruised past Bowling Green, 84-35, on Friday night inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
KEY MOMENTS
● Indiana (10-1, 1-0 B1G) led the game wire-to-wire, starting off on a triple by senior guard Chloe Moore-McNeil and baseline jumper from senior guard Sara Scalia. Both teams went without a field goal for the next four plus minutes before freshman forward Lilly Meister’s offensive putback was good with 4:01 to play.
● It completed a 11-4 run to close out the first, with Scalia’s six points leading the way, as it built a 20-6 lead. Scalia put up nine points in the second quarter en route to the Hoosiers shooting 58.3 percent to go up 39-19 at the break.
● Bowling Green (6-4) put up just six points in the third quarter as IU tacked on 21 points, including eight from Scalia in the third quarter. Their 12-0 run midway through the quarter with transition buckets from graduate student forward Mackenzie Holmes and Scalia gave Indiana a 56-21 lead with 3:31 remaining.
● Getting hot from the 3-point line in the fourth, the Hoosiers went 6-for-9 from the arc as it combined for a game-high 24 points in the final frame.
NOTABLE
• Scalia recorded IU’s second-straight 30-point game with an IU career-high 32 points in the win where she went 8-for-11 from the 3-point line. It marks the first time since Tyra Buss had back-to-back 30-point games in 2018 that a player or players have put up consecutive 30-point efforts.
• Scalia’s eight 3-pointers is tied for second all-time in a single game in school history, tying Kris McGrade who had eight against Indiana State in 1993.
• The Stillwater, Minn. native now has nine games with multiple triples and is the sixth 30-point scoring effort of her five-year career.
• Moore-McNeil dished out a team-high five assists, recording multiple assists in all 11 games this year and five or more in eight. She also added nine points, all from 3-point range.
• The Hoosiers assisted on 21 of its 30 made shots as sophomore guard Yarden Garzon (4), senior guard Sydney Parrish (3) and Holmes and Scalia (2 each) all had multiple dimes.
• BGSU scored just 35 points, second fewest points allowed by an opponent this season (35).
• Indiana shot 54.5 percent from the floor and 56.0 percent beyond the arc. It connected on a season-high 14 triples, which was the second-most in a single game and most since it hit 12 against Michigan State last season.
• IU ended up winning the battle on the boards, 38-34, led by eight boards from Meister off the bench.
QUOTABLE
Indiana head coach Teri Moren
“Well, first of all before we start, I just want to give our thoughts and our prayers to Lexi Fleming. She’s a terrific talent and you never like to see anything like that happen, especially one minute into the game. I really feel for Fred (Chmiel) and his team, his staff and certainly her. And not knowing anything definite, but the fact that she couldn’t get back in. I think it shook all of us for a minute. We had to all get our bearings just because she looked like she was in a tremendous amount of pain. For us tonight, I thought Sara Scalia was super special. Yes, she scored the ball great but I thought she was really good defensively. As well as she shot it from beyond the arc, I thought she was as good defensively with how she was focused, determined, and did a great job. I thought for us tonight I’m really proud of the way we guarded. We really looked like a tough, gritty team tonight and that’s what I’ve been wanting to see. We’ve seen moments but I want more consistency and looking like that defensively, especially with Big Ten play starting so it was a good night for us. I’m always worried about these games right before Christmas being trap games but I thought our kids were dialed in and focused and really looking forward to getting on the floor tonight and competing in our final non-conference game.”
UP NEXT
Big Ten play starts back up on New Year’s Eve when Indiana hosts Illinois at 12:30 p.m. ET on Big Ten Network.