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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

sports women's basketball

IU women's basketball gets back on track with win over Michigan

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Starting the second half strong has been a bit of an issue for women’s basketball in its last few games. IU Coach Teri Moren called it the team's Achilles' heel. 

On Thursday night against Michigan in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, Moren team's came out earlier than usual before the third quarter began. 

Instead of shooting around for about three minutes, Moren’s squad ran some 5-on-0 sets with about six minutes until play resumed. Moren said the team switched up its routine so her players could make adjustments before getting back into the game.

The Hoosiers responded to Moren's decision, starting the third quarter on an 8-2 run before taking a 47-38 lead. The Hoosiers maintained that lead the rest of the way as they defeated the Wolverines 70-60 and snapped out of their two-game losing skid.

Junior forward Brenna Wise hit shots right out of the gate in the first quarter as she went 4 of 4 from the field for 11 points. Two quick fouls stuck Wise on the bench for a majority of the first half, but she still found a way to affect the game. 

“It doesn’t matter if I’m on the floor or off the floor, I still got to have a positive impact,” Wise said. “We were feeding the hot hand and getting hype on those threes.”

The hot hand Wise was referring to was the smooth stroke coming from sophomore guard Jaelynn Penn's right hand. She shot 4 of 5 from the three-point line in the first half to lead all scorers with 16 points. 

Penn then continued her shooting into the second half as she hit a dagger three-pointer with 1:10 left to put IU up 65-58. The sophomore finished the night with a career high 28 points. 

“Getting back into the win column is important to us after losing two in a row,” Penn said. “We were all anxious to get out here and get this W.”

The team hit 10 three-pointers, with Penn drilling six, which she attributed to the guards attacking off the bounce, getting into the paint and kicking it back out to open shooters. 

Despite being outsized by Michigan, IU won the rebounding battle 44-34. A week ago, IU was outrebounded by Northwestern, allowing 15 offensive boards, and Moren said her team wasn’t the tougher team out there. This wasn’t the case Thursday. 

“We challenged our kids that they needed to play mad tonight,” Moren said. “They needed to be inspired and play with grittiness and toughness. What we lacked in size tonight I thought we made up in our fight and our hustle.”

The Hoosiers defeated the Wolverines 70-60.

With the win, IU improved to 16-4 on the season and 5-3 in the Big Ten. After being knocked out of the Associated Press top-25 this week, the Hoosiers have a daunting task coming to Bloomington on Sunday in No. 11 Maryland. With a win Sunday, mixed in with the victory Thursday, IU could find itself back in the rankings. 

But right now, it’s about recovering for the Hoosiers. Penn is still playing with a hurt ankle, sophomore guard Bendu Yeaney is still battling a sore Achilles and junior guard Ali Patberg got a little banged up tonight. 

Moren said Sunday will be a great opportunity for her team. 

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