After a 21-point loss to Illinois in Indiana women’s basketball’s Big Ten opener, 12th-year head coach Teri Moren said her squad’s response to the loss was going to be crucial.
Despite being down three players, Indiana responded to the loss with a 44-point win over University of Louisiana at Monroe on Thursday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington to improve to 9-2 on its season.
The Hoosiers now have just two more nonconference games before they resume Big Ten play, starting with a contest against Eastern Michigan University at 1 p.m. Sunday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
The two key players in Indiana’s bounce-back win over ULM were senior guard Shay Ciezki and freshman forward Maya Makalusky, who made her first career start for the Hoosiers against the Warhawks.
Ciezki was the main source of offensive production against ULM — as she has been for most of Indiana’s contests this season — scoring 31 points of 71% shooting from the field. She also notched five rebounds, two assists and a steal. Her 24.9 points per game ranks first in the Big Ten.
However, Thursday’s contest was a breakout game for Makalusky. She entered the starting lineup after Moren decided her squad needed a change following its loss to Illinois. The 6-foot-3 Makalusky scored a career high 22 points of 6-for-10 shooting from 3-point range.
Before the contest against ULM, Makalusky had been a valuable piece off the bench for Indiana, which has been an area of concern for the Hoosiers. Makalusky scored the Hoosiers’ only bench points against the Fighting Illini — a 3-pointer with less than a minute remaining in the game.
Sunday’s contest against Eastern Michigan could give Indiana’s bench an opportunity to get more in-game experience ahead of the Hoosiers’ conference slate. The Eagles are a team that heavily relies on its starters, as four of its five starters average more than 31 minutes on the court per game.
The lack of bench use from Eastern Michigan gives Indiana’s bench the chance to use their fresh legs as an advantage against a potentially tired Eagles squad.
Senior power forward/center Sisi Eleko is the leading scorer for the Eagles, averaging 17.8 points per game. She also averages 10.7 rebounds per game. Depending on the status of sophomore forwards Zania Socka-Nguemen and Faith Wiseman, Eleko could be facing a depleted Indiana interior.
Moren said Socka-Nguemen was “week to week” with an injury after Indiana’s contest against Western Michigan University on Dec. 3. She’s worn a boot on her right foot and sat on the bench during the Hoosiers’ last three games.
Wiseman, on the other hand, was out against ULM and did not sit on the bench with her teammates. After the game, Moren said Wiseman got hit and needed to take some time off.
“Faith took a hit to the jaw and is experiencing some aftereffects just from getting hit,” Moren said Thursday. “And so, I think just out of precaution, we’re allowing her to take the next couple days off, and I don’t know if you’ll see her on Sunday.”
Apart from Eleko, Eastern Michigan has one other double-digit scorer: freshman small forward Peyton Hill. The 5-foot-10 Hill averages 12.8 points per game for the Eagles. She attended Incarnate Word Academy in Saint Louis, Missouri, where she was a teammate of Indiana freshman guard Nevaeh Caffey.
Eastern Michigan is 6-3 this season and currently riding a four-game winning streak. The lone common opponent between Indiana and Eastern Michigan so far this season is ULM. The Eagles fell to the Warhawks 80-71 on Nov. 3 in their season opener.
Eastern Michigan’s 6-3 start comes with second-year head coach Sahar Nusseibeh at the helm. In her first season with the Eagles, Nusseibeh led them to a 2-27 overall record, despite Eleko averaging 17.9 points per game last season.
The contest between Indiana and Eastern Michigan is slated for 1 p.m. Sunday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall and 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.
