For a three-game stretch in early February, Indiana women’s basketball looked to have turned a corner. The Hoosiers collected three straight victories over Northwestern, Wisconsin and rival Purdue, but ended the streak in a 79-73 defeat to USC on Thursday.
Indiana recorded a second straight loss Sunday suffering a commanding 92-48 defeat at the hands of No. 2 UCLA at the Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles. The Hoosiers had the exact same number of shots as points, with UCLA managing 78 shots of its own.
UCLA has trounced many opponents this season. The Bruins had five wins by 40 or more points entering the contest against Indiana, two of which were against Big Ten teams. They’ve earned six Big Ten victories by 30 or more points.
The 44-point loss UCLA handed to Indiana was the Hoosiers’ worst margin of defeat this season. The Hoosiers’ worst loss before Sunday was by 28 points to then-No. 9 Michigan 95-67 on Jan. 29.
Indiana lost, but kept it close, against USC without senior guard Shay Ciezki on the court. Ciezki, the Hoosiers’ leading scorer, only played seven minutes versus the Bruins, being substituted after an awkward landing, and she never returned to the court.
“We had decided from the very beginning we were going to really pay attention,” Indiana head coach Teri Moren said postgame. “More importantly, it was just to protect Shay. And sometimes we have to protect these guys against themselves, because Shay probably wanted to go back in. But we had made that decision going into it that we didn’t feel like it was in her best interest.”
Once again without their main scorer, the Hoosiers were forced to spread the offensive volume throughout the lineup. Freshman forward Maya Makalusky, who notched a career-high 29 points against USC, led Indiana again with 13 points against UCLA. Redshirt sophomore guard Lenée Beaumont and freshman guard Nevaeh Caffey were the two other Hoosiers to reach double-digit points with 11 and 10, respectively.
Indiana’s offense struggled throughout the entire contest, matching its season-low points tally with 48. Indiana committed 13 turnovers against the Bruins.
In terms of physicality between the two sides, the Bruins proved superior. UCLA’s 51 rebounds more than doubled the Hoosiers’ total of 24, with the Bruins scoring 42 points in the paint. Indiana, by contrast, scored zero points in the paint in the first half and 16 in the entire game.
“We just could not keep them off the boards at all,” Moren said. “Couldn’t really generate anything offensively to give us any kind of rhythm throughout the game. And so a lot of that had to do with UCLA, just because they’re very disciplined in the half court.”
From the jump, it seemed as if UCLA had a firm hold on the game. It got out to a 14-4 lead with two minutes left in the first quarter, and the lead only grew from there. UCLA outscored Indiana 30-10 in the second quarter to take a 27-point halftime lead.
Indiana’s defeat to UCLA was expected, as ESPN Analytics gave the Bruins a 98.7% change of winning, even if not by 44 points. Only an undefeated University of Connecticut is keeping the Bruins off the top spot in the rankings, and they have been breezing past most teams in their way.
“We got beat by a really good basketball team today,” Moren said. “A Final Four team, in my opinion, and we got to flush it, move on quickly.”
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.
