In a night where the basketball was refusing to fall in for both teams, every single basket can make the difference between a win and a loss.
Indiana women’s basketball felt the sting of that fact Sunday evening as it fell to No. 14 Iowa 56-53 at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington.
The Hoosiers were just 2 for 19 from 3-point range against the Hawkeyes, marking their worst performance of the season from beyond the arc. One of the two made 3-pointers was a desperation heave from freshman guard Nevaeh Caffey with only a few ticks left.
Overall, Indiana shot 24 for 65 against Iowa, a field goal percentage of 36.9%. That accounts for the Hoosiers’ second lowest percentage of the season, slightly above its 35.8% from the field in a 78-57 loss to Illinois on Dec. 6.
However, Indiana was not the only team to shoot poorly. Iowa only shot 35.6% from the field and 25% from 3-point range. It was still just enough to get over the finish line.
In a game where the Hoosiers lost by three, even a minor improvement in performance likely would have been enough for a victory. To senior guard Shay Ciezki, sometimes, an off night just happens.
“Sometimes you’re on and sometimes you’re off,” Ciezki said postgame. “That’s just how the game works and tonight, obviously, was not the night for us 3-point wise.”
Ciezki — Indiana’s leading scorer with 23.3 points per game heading into Sunday — led the Cream and Crimson with 21 points against Iowa. However, she shot 1 for 10 from 3-point range against the Hawkeyes, which included an uncharacteristic airball. It tied her season low in field goal percentage at 37.5%.
However, shooting was a team-wide issue against Iowa for Indiana. Redshirt sophomore guard Lenée Beaumont — Indiana’s second highest scorer at 14 points per game before Sunday — shot 2 for 11 from the field. In the postgame press conference, Indiana head coach Teri Moren said she needed to be more “aggressive” in her shot-making.
Freshman forward Maya Makalusky failed to score in five attempts against Iowa, four of which came from beyond the arc. Sophomore forward Zania Socka-Nguemen was the only starter to shoot 50% or higher from the field, shooting 6 for 12 for 12 points on the night.
Moren saw shot selection as a team issue for the Cream and Crimson, allowing Iowa to easily pull down rebounds off wayward shots.
“We just decided to come down, especially in the third, and just take bad shots,” Moren said postgame. “And it was all of them. It just wasn’t one person; it was all of them. You know, I thought Shay tried to press a little bit, but I think all of them at some point took a bad shot for us that was not what we needed at that time.”
Indiana had shot well from beyond the arc in recent games, having gone 35% or higher from 3-point range in seven of its last ten games. However, the Hoosiers’ shot selection was particularly poor against Iowa, forcing multiple unnecessary contested 3-point attempts.
It remains to be seen whether this becomes a persistent issue like much earlier in the season, or if Sunday was simply an off night for the Hoosiers.
“The best competitors, the best players, as I always mention, a shooter like (Beaumont), offensively gifted like her, you have to have a short memory,” Moren said. “And you have to figure out how you can help us and score the ball for us.”
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.
