On the first offensive possession of Indiana women’s basketball’s contest against Washington, Husky junior guard Sayvia Sellers — whose career field goal percentage sits at 45.1% — missed the first shot attempt of the night.
Sophomore guard Zania Socka-Nguemen corralled the rebound for the Hoosiers and passed the ball to freshman guard Nevaeh Caffey, who dribbled it down the court. Indiana passed the ball around to every Hoosier on the court before it once again landed in Socka-Nguemen's hands.
As she scanned the court for an open teammate, Socka-Nguemen turned her head toward redshirt freshman forward Maya Makalusky, who stood behind her. Washington senior center Yulia Grabovskaia took it as an opportunity to make a play, as she quickly stole the ball right from Socka-Nguemen’s hands.
The early opportunity to gain momentum by capitalizing off a positive was gone, a trend that plagued Indiana through the rest of the night, as the Hoosiers fell to the Huskies 82-63 on Wednesday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington.
Indiana head coach Teri Moren said postgame Washington made the game difficult for the Hooseiers and she “didn’t like how we responded.”
“We didn't cut harder; we didn't screen better...,” Moren said. “It was like they weren't allowing us to do what we wanted to do, and because of it, we decided that we were just gonna stop working harder to get open, working harder to cut, and so that's where it starts. Their effort has to be better.”
There were times when Indiana find some continuity between the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. A 7-0 run to end the first half pulled the Hoosiers within 10 points of the Huskies. A Washington turnover led to a Beaumont 3-pointer to once again cut the deficit to 10 points with about five minutes and 30 seconds left in the third quarter. Indiana then made a 9-0 run late in the fourth quarter.
Apart from those runs, the Hoosiers failed to make consecutive baskets, except for free throws. If Indiana got a stop on defense, a missed shot or turnover followed. If the Hoosiers’ offense committed a turnover, the Huskies took the opportunity to score.
Makalusky scored 16 points off 4-for-7 shooting from the 3-point line. She said she wanted to provide a spark alongside senior guard Shay Ciezki, who scored 23 points in the game and is averaging a Big Ten-leading 23.2 points per game. Still, Makalusky acknowledged that her points weren’t much if defensive stops didn’t follow.
Moren has harped on her teams’ defensive efforts throughout the season, as the Hoosiers have given up 75.3 points per game to conference opponents. The lack of defense in games has negated the positives — like four performances of 20 or more points from Ciezki through the Big Ten slate — as the Hoosiers’ offense cannot outpace opposing teams’ scoring efforts.
For Indiana to record its first Big Ten win of the season, it’ll need to clean up the issues defensively — and offensively — that are stopping the Hoosiers from gaining momentum. And Indiana won’t have an easy path to get there. The Cream and Crimson have No. 14 Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio, next on their schedule at 8 p.m. Jan. 22. Then the Hoosiers will take on in-state rival Purdue at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, before returning home for a game against No. 8 Michigan to finish January.
As the losses keep coming, Moren continues to stress her squad’s effort — or lack thereof.
“I think our staff and I can live with if teams just score more points, and they just execute better,” Indiana head coach Teri Moren said postgame. “But what's hard to wrap your head around is when we got beat in every area just because of our lack of effort tonight. And that's really disappointing.”
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.
