IU had one last chance to get back in the win column before the regular season ended.
It would potentially end a four-game skid, knock off a top-25 team in No. 20 Rutgers and, more importantly, it would at least keep the Hoosiers eligible for a postseason tournament like the Women’s National Invitation
Tournament.
None of those happened. In their first trip to Piscataway, N.J., the Hoosiers fell to the Scarlet Knights 71-60.
For just the second time this season, the Hoosiers went with a slightly altered starting five
players.
Just before the game, it was announced that sophomore forward Jenn Anderson was out with a day-to-day injury, so freshman guard Jess Walter was inserted into the starting lineup in her place.
The starting five included three freshmen and four guards rather than the usual two post players.
Freshman forward Amanda Cahill, who had 11 points, got into foul trouble early in the game, only playing three
first-half minutes.
Against a bigger Rutgers team, IU Coach Teri Moren said size was a big factor.
“We had to go really small,” she said.
“You would think having more perimeter players would help to spread the floor out a little more, but unfortunately we just turned it over too many times.”
Walter, Lyndsay Leikem and Karlee McBride, three players who have come off the bench all season, led the Hoosiers in scoring at halftime with six points each.
At that point, IU trailed by just four.
But the Scarlet Knights opened the second half on a 17-5 run, turning IU turnovers — which amounted to 19 by the final buzzer — into transition layups and quickly pushed the lead to double digits.
Freshman guard Tyra Buss led the Hoosiers in scoring with 14 points, 13 of which came in the second half.
With the loss, IU falls below .500 on the season
(14-15).
The Hoosiers will have to win two Big Ten Tournament games in order to be in consideration for the WNIT, although a bid would be unlikely for a team with a 4-14 conference record.
The Big Ten Tournament begins Wednesday with a round of two play-in games.
Because IU sits in the bottom four of the conference, it will play Penn State for a spot in the tournament.
For IU, a new season begins Monday, Moren said.
“That’s what you talk to your players about,” she said. “Anything can happen in a tournament setting.”
In IU’s first meeting with Penn State this season, Jan. 22, the Nittany Lions earned their first Big Ten win after opening the conference season 0-7.
It was a game the Hoosiers began to fall behind toward the end of the first half, made a run late in the second but couldn’t come back to win.
After that game, and the one against Rutgers on Sunday, Moren was disappointed in her team for taking possessions off.
“We felt like we didn’t show up,” she said.
Wednesday, they get a second chance against the Nittany Lions.
“As we said to (the players), we’re going there not just to play one game,” Moren said.
“Hopefully that will motivate them, and inspire them, that they got a new season to look forward to here in the next couple days.”
