After one quarter, it seemed as if Western Michigan University might gate crash Indiana women’s basketball’s return to Bloomington after the Hoosiers’ three straight games at the Alico Arena in Fort Myers, Florida.
Despite winning 71-53 on Wednesday at Simon Skjdot Assembly Hall in Bloomington, it wasn’t an easy win for the Hoosiers, who found themselves down 20-15 after the first quarter.
The Broncos were 1-4 on the season coming into Bloomington, their only win coming in a 65-64 road victory over the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Western Michigan’s most recent result came in the form of an 82-70 home loss to NCAA Division II opponent Roosevelt University, so it came as a surprise when the Broncos came out of the gates firing.
Wednesday wasn’t the first time Indiana got off to a slow start this season, however. The Hoosiers also found themselves down 16-13 after one quarter against Florida Gulf Coast University on Nov. 25. From there, Indiana rallied to turn the deficit into an 18-point victory.
Indiana also found itself trailing at halftime on multiple occasions this season, being down at the break against the University of Illinois Chicago, Gonzaga University and Iowa State University.
Against UIC on Nov. 7 and Gonzaga on Nov. 28, the Hoosiers were able to overcome their slender seven and one-point halftime deficits, winning those matches 72-56 and 76-72, respectively.
However, against Iowa State, the Hoosiers were not so fortunate. Junior center Audi Crooks dropped 47 points on 19-of-25 shooting from the field for the Cyclones. Combined with the rest of Iowa State’s offense, Indiana couldn’t keep up. Despite a season high in points scored, the Hoosiers fell 106-95 on Sunday.
In Wednesday night’s game against Western Michigan, Indiana continued its defensive struggles early. The Broncos shot 7 for 15 from the field in the first quarter, going 3 for 7 from beyond the arc.
The Hoosiers were able to claw their way back into a halftime lead, holding a 35-31 advantage at the break. Despite keeping Western Michigan at arm's length for much of the contest, the Hoosiers pulled away in the fourth quarter for an 18-point win.
Twelfth-year Indiana head coach Teri Moren said she was disappointed with the team’s performance postgame.
“Sometimes, you play how you practice,” Moren said. “We were not very good in practice yesterday, and therefore, I thought we showed a lot of what we looked like yesterday in practice. And that’s unfortunate.”
Moren said it was a possible “mistake” on her part to allow the team the Monday off after Sunday’s loss. The day off meant the Hoosiers had only one practice between the Iowa State loss and Wednesday’s game.
In many ways, Indiana’s offense regressed to how it looked before its Florida trip. In Fort Meyers, the Hoosiers’ scoring was more balanced. In contrast, on Wednesday night, the offense had two main scoring options who carried the rest of the team in senior guard Shay Ciezki and redshirt sophomore guard Lenée Beaumont. The pair combined for 39 points against Western Michigan, with the nine other Hoosier players that stepped onto the court, combining for 32.
“I felt like the trip that we had in Florida, we took a lot of steps forward and did some good things,” Moren said. “Only to revert back a couple steps here in the hall tonight.”
Ciezki carried Indiana’s first quarter performance, scoring eight of Indiana’s 15 points while going 4-for-7 shooting from the field. Beaumont was the only other player to take more than one shot in the first quarter, going 1 for 4.
Indiana’s offense can roll once it gets going, but it often slowly rises from slumber at the start of games. The Hoosiers can’t afford to sleepwalk their way through the first quarter against Big Ten quality opposition, as it risks putting itself in early holes too difficult to climb out of, which was the case against Iowa State.
“Although it’s a W in the column,” Moren said, “on nights like tonight when your team comes out and they don’t perform at the level of what our standards are and what my expectations are for this group, I’m disappointed.”
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.
