When Indiana women’s basketball conducted its pregame senior day celebrations before its contest against Oregon on Sunday, it announced Shay Ciezki needed just seven points to record 1,000 in her career as a Hoosier.
The senior guard is in her second season with the Cream and Crimson, and the nearly-guaranteed accomplishment would make her the 34th player in program history to reach that feat.
While Ciezki reached the mark before halftime of the Hoosiers’ 72-65 win over the Ducks on Sunday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington, she got off to a slow start scoring wise.
After Indiana won the tipoff, Ciezki took the Hoosiers’ first shot attempt of the game – a missed 3-pointer. Two offensive possessions later, Ciezki scored her first basket of the game off a jumper, but she didn’t score again in the first quarter.
Ciezki made one of her two free throw attempts off a flagrant foul from Oregon senior forward Amina Muhammad nearly two minutes into the second period, but she scored only twice more in the first half.
The second of those two made baskets gave Ciezki her 1,000th point with the Cream and Crimson. She went on to score 13 more in the second half en route to a team-high 20 points with six rebounds and six assists.
“It is such a good feeling having someone that we know we can trust having the ball with,” junior forward Edessa Noyan said postgame, “and basically know... something good is gonna happen. And we've gone to her a lot of times this season, and she gonna have to keep doing it the rest of the season, too.”
Ciezki transferred to Indiana from Penn State before the 2024-25 season. She was second in the team in scoring with 11.8 points per game that season, but her role this season increased.
After the four other starters and many role players transferred away from the Hoosiers following their 2025 NCAA Tournament Round of 32 appearance, Ciezki stayed and helped build a team that had just five returning members at the start of the season.
Ciezki has carried Indiana through the bulk of this season. She averages a Big Ten-leading 23.1 points per game this season and has scored 20 or more points in 18 games, but her production has been necessary because of Indiana’s current roster makeup.
The Hoosiers currently have two freshmen in their starting lineup – guard Nevaeh Caffey and forward Maya Makaluksy. Then, Noyan and redshirt sophomore guard Lenée Beaumont. Noyan transferred to Indiana after two seasons at the University of Virginia, and she was slotted into the starting lineup after injuries to sophomore forward Zania Socka-Nguemen. Beaumont played limited minutes as a freshman at Indiana, and a knee injury sidelined her for her sophomore season.
During the offseason, Ciezki said she sometimes doubted if the Hoosiers would have a full squad due to transfer portal departures. Those circumstances are why she’s proud of what her teammates have done this season.
The lack of experience playing Big Ten basketball from surrounding players has given Ciezki more responsibility, and she’s carried that load for the Hoosiers.
“I think she's felt a lot of pressure,” Indiana head coach Teri Moren said of Ciezki. “But I think what makes it so impressive is how she's handled it.”
Moren said that despite the low moments her squad has gone through this season, like the 0-10 stretch to begin Big Ten play, Ciezki continues to show up. She continues to be a good teammate. She continues to put up numbers.
“I think this is, by far, been one of the most impressive single seasons, that any kid in the Big Ten has had,” Moren said. “And I say that because of her numbers. Her numbers are just, they just blow me away in terms of her efficiency.”
Indiana has just two games left in the regular season — a contest Wednesday against Rutgers and a game versus Penn State on Feb. 28. Both of those will be crucial for the Hoosiers’ chances at making the 15-team Big Ten Tournament, which they currently sit on the bubble of right now.
The win over Oregon put Indiana’s conference record at 4-12, which sits 14th in the conference. If the Hoosiers want to win their final two regular season games and even make a run in the Big Ten Tournament, Ciezki is going to need to play her typical high-scoring role, just like Noyan said.
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.
