Indiana women’s basketball has struggled with turnovers and slow starts multiple times in its young season. It started its contest against Marshall University with just nine points in the first quarter. It had 20 turnovers in its win over Butler University.
And Tuesday afternoon, a similar story once again played out of the Hoosiers.
After the first quarter of play against Florida Gulf Coast University, Indiana saw a three-point deficit to the Eagles. The Hoosiers had six turnovers in the first period, which Florida Gulf Coast took advantage of by scoring 12 points off of.
While the Eagles recorded six turnovers of their own, the Hoosiers were unable to capitalize off their mistakes. It made way for a highly defensive first quarter, but with 0 points off Florida Gulf Coast’s turnovers, Indiana needed to clean up its offensive play.
It did just that.
The Hoosiers had two turnovers in both the second and third quarters and found ways to capitalize on the offensive opportunities they had. The offensive turnaround gave way to an 82-64 victory over Florida Gulf Coast on Tuesday at Alico Arena in Fort Myers, Florida.
“We knew that they were a team that plays hard, they’re scrappy, they’re at home,” Indiana head coach Teri Moren said postgame. “And so, I thought our kids adjusted out of halftime and like I said, did a lot of great things in that third.”
While Indiana outscored Florida Gulf Coast 21-12 in the second quarter to give it a six-point lead at halftime, it was the third period where the Hoosiers saw the most drastic turnaround from the first quarter.
Both redshirt sophomore guard Lenée Beaumont and senior guard Shay Ciezki didn’t miss a shot in the third quarter. Beaumont scored 11 points of 4-of-4 shooting from the field, making all three of her attempts from long range. Ciezki, who led all scorers in the game with 26 points, scored nine points in the third quarter. She made all three of her shots from the field and both of her free-throw attempts. Their performances helped Indiana outscore Florida Gulf Coast 28-10 in the third quarter.
“I wasn’t looking for my 3-point shot early on,” Beaumont said of the third quarter switch for the Hoosiers. “And if they’re going to go on the ball screens and make reads like that, I got to be looking for that to open up my game.”
Indiana shot 55% from the field against Florida Gulf Coast with 17 assists on 31 made baskets. After the six turnovers in the first quarter, Indiana had just nine more in the contest. The combination of high-percentage shooting and low turnovers — after the first frame — led the Hoosiers to a more efficient offense.
“At that point during halftime, we just talked about all the things that we had seen defensively and that we had to be ready to adjust to whatever defense that they were presenting to us at the moment,” Moren said.
However, the third quarter dominance wouldn’t have been possible without the Hoosiers continuing to force turnovers from the Eagles. Despite the 0 points off six turnovers in the first quarter for Indiana, the Hoosiers were able to score 22 points off forced turnovers in the remaining three periods. The 22 points accounted for 27% of the Hoosiers scoring, which showed improvement for Indiana on both ends of the floor.
While the turnovers and slow starts haven’t been too much of a concern for Indiana through its first six games, as it hasn’t dropped a contest yet, it’s something the Hoosiers will have to keep working on. If Indiana can’t take care of the ball against bigger, more physical opponents, other teams will take advantage of it.
And that doesn’t start with Big Ten play, but the Hoosiers will have to be more aware of their ability to score and play clean as soon as Friday, when they take on Gonzaga University. Indiana will then take on either Marquette University or No. 10 Iowa State University on Sunday.
Any of the three opponents could capitalize off the Hoosiers’ mistakes if they play like they did today. So, if Indiana wants to leave the 2025 GEICO Coconut Hoops tournament with a win that could boost its resume, it’ll have to limit mistakes throughout the game, not just the final three quarters.
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.
