Indiana women’s basketball’s 2025-26 season has been a tale of two halves.
The Hoosiers went 11-1 through their nonconference schedule, with their only loss coming in a 106-95 defeat to then-No. 10 Iowa State University on Nov. 30. On the other hand, Indiana is 0-4 in the Big Ten, having lost each game by 15 or more points.
Indiana’s most recent Big Ten loss came Sunday to No. 7 Maryland at the XFINITY Center in College Park, Maryland. The Hoosiers fell to the Terrapins 82-67.
Indiana has been unable to match the physicality of other Big Ten schools, often getting beat in the paint and giving opponents opportunities for offensive rebounds and second-chance points.
In its first conference outing, Indiana slumped to a 78-57 defeat to Illinois on Dec. 6. The Fighting Illini collected 11 offensive rebounds compared to the Hoosiers’ six, leading to 14 second-chance points for Illinois compared to five for the Cream and Crimson.
After wrapping up its nonconference schedule, Indiana suffered a 71-48 thrashing Dec. 29 to a Minnesota team that dominated inside for 18 offensive rebounds and 19 second-chance points. The Hoosiers, by contrast, failed to earn any second-chance points off two offensive rebounds.
Despite losing its third straight conference game by 20 or more points to No. 24 Michigan State 80-60 on Thursday, Indiana held its own in the paint. The Hoosiers and Spartans each pulled down 10 offensive rebounds, with the Cream and Crimson earning 16 second-chance points.
Against Maryland on Sunday, however, Indiana was once again second-best inside the paint. While redshirt sophomore guard Lenée Beaumont led the Hoosiers with five rebounds, Maryland redshirt junior forward Isimenme Ozzy-Momodu notched 15 boards.
As a team, Indiana managed seven offensive rebounds compared to Maryland’s 13. The Terrapins secured 14 second-chance points compared to just four from the Hoosiers.
Despite improving from its worst outing against Minnesota, Indiana head coach Teri Moren was mostly optimistic in her postgame press conference Sunday.
“We’re learning lessons,” Moren said postgame. “We know that it’s not the result right now that we’re getting, but we’re learning a lot of really good lessons right now, and as I said to our group, the tide will turn with our group. There’s no question.”
Some of Moren’s confidence came from the return of sophomore forward Zania Socka-Nguemen. The UCLA transfer proved to be a force inside for Indiana in its first seven games, averaging 13 points and a team-leading nine rebounds per game.
Following the Hoosiers’ 76-72 victory over Gonzaga University on Nov. 28, Socka-Nguemen missed the next eight matches through injury. Junior forward Edessa Noyan started in her place but offered less of a dominating presence with 5.2 rebounds per game.
Socka-Nguemen returned off the bench from injury against Maryland, the school less than 10 miles away from her hometown of Silver Spring, Maryland. Despite only playing 17 minutes due to early foul trouble, Socka-Nguemen led Indiana with two offensive rebounds.
“We’ve missed her,” Moren said. “It’s hard to run a good offense without a post presence, and we’ve missed her. She’s been out for five weeks, and it’s been a long five weeks for us.”
As Socka-Nguemen falls back into the repetition of practice and games, Moren believes Indiana will benefit from her presence against future Big Ten opponents.
“We’ve got to stay positive; we have to be prisoners of hope that this thing is gonna turn,” Moren said. “I know I have a group of women down there that are gonna fight, that are gonna stick together, and you know, eventually this thing is gonna turn in the direction that we want it to be.”
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.
