Indiana women’s basketball begins its 2025-26 season Tuesday when it hosts Lipscomb University at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington.
Last season, the Hoosiers went 20-13 overall with a 10-8 mark in Big Ten play. Their season ended in the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 when they lost to the University of South Carolina.
However, Indiana's roster looks much different than it did a year ago. Only one starter remains — senior guard Shay Ciezki — and nine players left either via transfer portal or graduation, including the Hoosiers’ leading scorer in guard Yarden Garzon.
The new-look Hoosiers defeated Missouri University of Science and Technology 100-32 on Oct. 27 in their lone exhibition contest. For Indiana’s first contest in front of fans with its new roster, the starting lineup consisted of three returning players, one transfer and one freshman. Twelfth-year head coach Teri Moren slotted Ciezki, redshirt sophomore guard Lenée Beaumont, sophomore guard Valentyna Kadlecova, freshman guard Nevaeh Caffey and sophomore forward Zania Socka-Nguemen into the starting five.
In Indiana’s 68-point victory over Missouri S&T, four Hoosiers scored in double figures. Ciezki led the team with 21 points off 8-for-13 shooting with five rebounds. Kadlecova recorded 13 in the contest, while Beaumont and freshman forward Maya Makalusky each tallied 11 points.
Socka-Nguemen and junior forward Edessa Noyan found themselves in foul trouble by the end of the game. Each recorded four fouls, and while the team played aggressively, Moren admitted postgame that the fouls needed to be cleaned up moving forward.
Moren also said that apart from continuing to work on the defense, there were a lot of things she wanted to continue to work on the offense ahead of Lipscomb, including limiting turnovers and playing with tempo, among other areas.
Meet the Bisons
Lipscomb is coming off a season in which it went 20-12 with a 12-6 record in the Atlantic Sun Conference. Its season ended with a loss to Western Illinois University in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament.
The Bisons lost their top two scorers from a season ago. Guard/forward Bella Vinson, who averaged 14.7 points and 6.4 rebounds per contest last season, graduated from the program. Guard Claira McGowan also graduated from Lipscomb after averaging 13.7 points and 3.8 rebounds per game with the Bisons.
With the departure of Vinson and McGowan, senior guard Molly Heard is the Bisions’ top returning scorer from last season. As a junior, Heard averaged 13.1 points and 4.5 rebounds per game and had 31 total blocks on the season.
Tipoff between the Hoosiers and the Bisons is slated for 7 p.m. Tuesday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The contest will stream on Big Ten+.
Follow reporters Savannah Slone (@savrivers06 and srslone@iu.edu) and Max Schneider (maxschn@iu.edu) and columnist Sean McAvoy (@sean_mc07 and semcavoy@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana women’s basketball season.
