Just two days removed from a 71-57 Thanksgiving Day rout over Tennessee, Indiana women's basketball took on Princeton Saturday morning. The Hoosiers put forth a surging second quarter to take a 41-24 lead into half, a deficit too steep for the Tigers to claw back as Indiana held them off for a 72-63 win. No player was as impactful for Indiana as graduate senior guard Sara Scalia, who tallied 28 points and seven rebounds, her career high in both categories as a Hoosier.
“Sara had a special game, not just with her shooting, but if you look at her stat line,” Indiana head coach Teri Moren said. “It's pretty impressive.”
Scalia started her career playing for her hometown Minnesota Gophers for three seasons before taking her talents to Indiana via the transfer portal in 2022-23. The sharp shooting guard has taken a larger role in the Indiana offense as a playmaker after former guard Grace Berger entered the WNBA draft last season, though the transfer’s scoring has been the biggest asset to the Hoosiers offense.
After averaging just under 10 points per game in her 2022-23 campaign, Scalia’s performance against Princeton raises her 2023-24 average to 16.8, putting her second only to AP Preseason All-American graduate forward Mackenzie Holmes. Scalia’s ability to stretch the floor with the 3-point shot has poisoned opposing defenses, as she has shot at a 43.3% rate from deep.
Against Princeton, she shot an efficient 5-of-9 from three in a 10-for-17 overall display from the field. Not only did Scalia rack up points for Indiana, but the threat of a long-range deadeye benefited the Hoosiers inside the paint.
Holmes finished the game with 20 points and her tandem with Scalia proved to be effective for the cream and crimson. The team’s two leading scorers accounted for 48 of the Hoosiers’ 72 points.
The yin and yang of Scalia and Holmes forced defenders to make the decision to either leave Holmes one-on-one or send a double team, which in turn leaves Scalia and other shooters open from three. Holmes' ability to be physical in the paint is the bread and butter of an Indiana offense whose identity is built around the rim, showcased by the fifth-year player eclipsing the 2,000-point mark, just the second player in program history to do so.
“I thought Mackenzie handled herself in a great way out of the double,” Moren said. “It was a very physical game once again, and it's been a very physical tournament.”
After the Hoosiers’ crushing defeat to Stanford University on Nov. 11 where she scored just 8 points on 3-of-12 shooting, Holmes has put forth a string of quality offensive displays averaging 20 points across Indiana’s last four games. It’s not a stretch to consider such a turnaround as a return to form for the forward, who averaged 22.3 points per game last season en route to a spot on the All-Big Ten First Team.
It appeared that Indiana had the chance to run away with the game after taking a 17-point lead into halftime, but the Princeton team refused to go away quietly. The Tigers cut it to a 7-point game early in the fourth quarter before the Hoosiers were able to seal the game.
“All in all, just a really great team in Princeton” Moren said. “But I'm really happy for our group.”
Indiana will now transition from the warm weather of Fort Myers, Florida, to the slightly less warm weather in Portland, Maine, as the Hoosiers take on the University of Maine on Thursday. That game will tip-off at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN+.
Follow reporters Dalton James (@DaltonMJames) and Quinn Richards (@Quinn_richa), columnist Ryan Canfield (@_ryancanfield) and photographer Olivia Bianco (@theoliviabianco) for updates throughout the Indiana women’s basketball season.
