Indiana women’s basketball’s young roster has been an obstacle the Hoosiers have faced all season.
Of the eight Hoosiers who saw time on the court against Purdue on Sunday, Shay Ciezki is the only one with at least three years of experience playing in the Big Ten. The senior guard is in her second season with Indiana after spending two with Penn State.
Other than Ciezki, the Hoosiers’ starting lineup Sunday consisted of two freshmen, a redshirt sophomore and a transfer junior. The three players to come off the bench transferred to Indiana ahead of the 2025-26 season.
Along with its inexperience, Indiana’s depth has been tested. Sophomore forward Zania Socka-Nguemen missed her ninth game of the season Sunday with injury, while Indiana head coach Teri Moren announced in mid-December that sophomore guard Valentyna Kadlecova departed Indiana to play professional basketball in the Czech Republic.
Indiana has been susceptible to common issues that come with a young and shallow roster. It’s struggled to put together a full 40 minutes of basketball. It's struggled in late game scenarios. It’s struggled to chip into leads once it’s fallen behind.
Those issues were prevalent in the Hoosiers’ 80-69 loss to the Boilermakers on Sunday at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Indiana. With the loss, Indiana remains one of two teams that are winless in Big Ten games alongside Penn State.
“If they were learning at a faster rate, then maybe we win a few of these, right?” Moren said postgame. “But the only thing I know is to keep showing them. Just to keep helping them with the right attitude and continue to pour into them.”
The Hoosiers were the first to score Sunday with a basket from redshirt sophomore guard Lenée Beaumont. They didn't fall behind throughout the remainder of the first quarter and took a four-point advantage into the second period.
Then, the Boilermakers started to chip into that small lead.
Purdue freshman guard Hila Karsh scored a 3-pointer to cut Indiana’s lead to one. Junior forward Jade Ondineme fouled Boilermaker sophomore guard Nya Smith, who made both of her free throws and gave Purdue its first lead of the game. Smith then scored a 3-pointer to pull ahead by four points.
From that point, Indiana struggled to slow down Purdue. The Hoosiers were outscored 30-14 in the second quarter, as the Boilermakers went into halftime with a 12-point lead.
Indiana’s problems stopped once the second half started. Purdue’s lead didn’t fall to less than seven points, and it grew to 11 points when the final buzzer sounded.
While this Hoosier squad lacks experience, Sunday marked the 21st game and ninth Big Ten game they’ve had to build off of. Yet the pieces still aren’t coming together.
Moren said she thought her team was making strides after its 20-point loss to then-No. 24 Michigan State on Jan. 1. It looked like they were making progress with their five-point loss to then-No. 25 Nebraska and three-point loss to then-No. 14 Iowa.
But after its past three losses to Washington, No. 12 Ohio State and Purdue, Indiana seems to be closer to where it was when it lost its first Big Ten game to Illinois 78-57 on Dec. 6.
Now sitting at 0-9 in the conference, the Hoosiers take on another top-ranked opponent to close out its January schedule. Indiana faces No. 7 Michigan at 7 p.m. Jan. 29 at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington to try to steal its first Big Ten victory of the season.
“We’re gonna keep fighting,” Moren said. “It’s just how I’m built, and then our staff feels the same way. We love this game; we’re a bunch of competitors, and I have some really true competitors.”
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.
