No. 14 Indiana women’s basketball (16-2, 7-1 Big Ten) will be without one of its key pieces Sunday afternoon against Northwestern (7-12, 2-6 Big Ten). Senior guard Syndey Parrish suffered a foot injury before the Hoosiers' 74-68 win against rival Purdue on Jan. 21 and has been ruled out indefinitely.
“It’s an adjustment, but it’s an adjustment we’ve had to go through before,” Indiana head coach Teri Moren said Friday. “We always look at it in a positive way because some of those other kids are going to get great experience and time.”
Last season, the Hoosiers were without their second-leading scorer — former guard Grace Berger — for an eight-game stretch at a similar point in the season. Indiana overcame that obstacle and proceeded to win its first conference title in four decades. Now, the Hoosiers face a similar hurdle without Parrish. Fortunately for Indiana, a struggling Wildcats team provides a golden opportunity for Moren and the Hoosiers to structure a Parrish-less game plan.
Northwestern currently sits at 13th in the Big Ten standings, only ahead of Rutgers, who has yet to win a conference game. While the Wildcats have struggled on both sides of the floor this season, defensive turmoil has been their primary downfall thus far. Northwestern allows a conference-high 81.1 points per game this year — 342nd of all 348 Division I programs.
Indiana looks to exploit that weakness and find points from a wide array of scorers. Parrish averaged 10.8 points per game before the injury, but that production will need to come from other places for the Hoosiers to preserve their high-powered offense.
“It does become more on Mack,” Moren said. “I think it becomes more on Chloe, Sara and Yarden. They're going to have to provide us with more scoring opportunities.”
All four players Moren highlighted have shown prowess on the offensive end, with graduate student forward Mackenzie Holmes leading the team in scoring at 19.9 points per game. Senior guard Chloe Moore-McNeil and fifth-year senior guard Sara Scalia stepped up against Purdue, playing all 40 minutes in the victory over the Boilermakers. Sophomore guard Yarden Garzon appears to be getting back to form following some mid-season struggles on the offensive end, scoring 17 points in the win.
“We need Yarden to do what she did at Purdue,” Moren said. “And that’s score the ball more.”
The three Hoosier guards all shoot over 40% from the 3-point line this season and have been lights out from beyond the arc as of late. Indiana drained a season-high 15 3-pointers against Purdue on 15-for-23 from beyond the arc while the Hoosiers currently sit third in the country in total 3-point percentage at 40.3%.
Indiana will look to stay hot Sunday afternoon hosting Northwestern in the Hoosiers’ annual Breast Cancer Awareness Game. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on Big Ten+.
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.
