Indiana women’s basketball returns to Bloomington on Thursday to face off against the University of Louisiana at Monroe after suffering a 78-57 defeat to Illinois on Saturday.
The Hoosiers struggled in their first Big Ten game of the season, shooting 35.8% from the field and falling to an early Illinois lead that led them to chase the Fighting Illini the rest of the way.
The front court struggled without sophomore forward Zania Socka-Nguemen, who has missed three straight games with an injury, giving up 58 points in the paint against Illinois.
Indiana’s bench had its worst performance of the season against Illinois, scoring just three points all game — a 3-pointer from freshman forward Maya Makalusky with less than a minute remaining in the contest.
After the Hoosiers’ win over Western Michigan on Dec. 3, Indiana head coach Teri Moren said Socka-Nguemen was “week to week,” leaving junior forward Edessa Noyan to slot into the starting lineup. Socka-Nguemen averaged 13 points and nine rebounds per game, compared to Noyan’s 4.9 points and 4.9 rebounds. However, Noyan has seen greater returns as a starter, scoring 11 points in the loss to Illinois and pulling down 11 rebounds in the win against Western Michigan.
Senior guard Shay Ciezki played all 40 minutes against the Fighting Illini, scoring 23 points and dishing out a season-high five assists. Ciezki has averaged 24.3 points per game this season, scoring 20 or more points in all but two matches against Marshall University and Butler University.
Returning to Bloomington after the loss in Champaign, Illinois, Indiana faces off against ULM in its final stretch of nonconference games.
The Warhawks are currently 5-3 this season, winning their opening game 80-71 against Eastern Michigan University, which the Hoosiers play Dec. 14. ULM fell to the University of Alabama 75-38 in its most recent contest.
The Warhawks’ leading scorer is graduate student guard J’Mani Ingram, who transferred from Appalachian State University. The 5-foot-7 Ingram has averaged 10 points per game with zero attempted 3-point shots this season. No player for ULM averages 30 minutes or more per game, with graduate student guard and fellow Appalachian State transfer Asjah Inniss averaging a team-high 26.9 minutes per game.
ULM’s highest scorers from last season, guards Jakayla Johnson and Meloney Thames, both transferred to the University of Southern Mississippi after the 2024-25 season. The pair averaged 15.8 and 13.1 points per game, respectively.
ULM head coach Scotty Fletcher is in his first season at the helm on the Warhawks after leading Pearl River Community College to a 25-3 record during the 2024-25 season. The Warhawks had a record of 11-19 last season, losing in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Championship Tournament to Georgia Southern University 75-69 on March 5.
After playing ULM, Indiana wraps up its nonconference schedule by hosting East Michigan on Dec. 14 and Western Carolina University on Dec. 21. Following those games, the Hoosiers return to Big Ten play against Minnesota Dec. 29.
Indiana hosts ULM at 7 p.m. Thursday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington. The match will be streamed 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.
