The third quarter has been pivotal in many of Indiana women’s basketball’s contests to begin the 2025-26 season.
Against the University of Illinois Chicago on Nov. 7, the Hoosiers outscored the Flames 19-9 to turn a seven-point halftime deficit into a 16-point win. Indiana then outscored Florida Gulf Coast University by 18 points in the third quarter on Nov. 25 and beat the Eagles by 18 points.
However, the highly efficient third-quarter performances haven’t been consistent. The Hoosiers were outscored 23-9 in the third period in their first Big Ten contest of the season against Illinois on Dec. 6. Then, Indiana scored just five points in the third quarter against Minnesota on Monday.
Indiana’s trend of ineffective third quarters continued Thursday. It entered halftime of its contest against No. 24 Michigan State trailing by five points. Just two minutes and 19 seconds later, the Spartans held a 10-point advantage over the Hoosiers. With just over one minute to play in the third period, Indiana trailed by 16 points.
Ultimately, the Hoosiers fell to the Spartans 80-60 on Thursday afternoon at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington to start Big Ten play 0-3 for the first time since the 2017-18 season.
“Right now, I think our biggest problem that we got to address is our third quarters,” senior guard Shay Ciezki said postgame. “That’s kind of where we break down, and it’s hard to build back out in that fourth when you’re down... I personally would love to tell you why it’s happening right now, but that’s just something for us to look at days to come to figure it out.”
While Ciezki has been highly reliable for the Hoosiers throughout the season, the third-quarter slump impacted her performance Thursday afternoon. The 5-foot-7 Ciezki leads the Big Ten in scoring with 23.2 points per game, but that production slowed against Michigan State, which held Ciezki to 16 points — her third-lowest mark this season.
Ciezki scored 10 of her points in the first quarter, going 3 for 6 from the field. However, that’s when the Spartans’ defense began to tighten up and limit Ciezki’s shot attempts.
Michigan State’s defense held Ciezki to just six points through the final three quarters and 6-for-16 shooting throughout the contest. It also impacted Ciezki’s ball security, as she recorded four turnovers in the final three periods, compared to just one in the first.
The first thing Indiana head coach Teri Moren gave her team at halftime was a reminder. Before she addressed the game at hand, Moren talked about the Hoosiers’ third quarter against Minnesota, when they struggled to stop the Golden Gophers and were outscored 17-5.
She once again reminded her squad about Minnesota before they went to the floor, but still, Indiana failed to execute, allowing Michigan State to score within the first 30 seconds of the period. The Spartans outscored the Hoosiers 21-12 in the third quarter.
“We gotta do something about it, right? The message can only go so far,” Moren said. “As I always tell them, you gotta draw a line in the sand. Enough’s enough. We’re not allowing it to happen anymore.”
The sluggish third quarters have been a problem for Indiana through their first three Big Ten games, and if it doesn't find a way to correct it, the Hoosiers will struggle to walk away from games with wins.
Michigan State was the start of a gauntlet for Indiana, which now faces five ranked opponents in its next seven games, starting with No. 7 Maryland at 6 p.m. Sunday in College Park, Maryland.
“We gotta be able to put a full 40 minutes together,” redshirt sophomore guard Lenée Beaumont said. “Any team in the Big Ten, it doesn’t matter who we’re playing, is too competitive for us to only have a good first half and try to hope to be in a position to win the game by the end of it.”
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.
