The third quarter has become a thorn in the side of Indiana women’s basketball this season. The Hoosiers have only outscored Big Ten opponents in the third quarter three times — a 78-73 loss to Nebraska on Jan. 8, an 80-69 defeat to rival Purdue on Jan. 25 and a 77-74 victory over Wisconsin on Feb. 4.
Despite being outscored in the third quarter again Sunday, Indiana managed to rally in the fourth quarter, defeating Oregon 72-65 at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington.
Indiana’s performance came off the back of two straight losses to West Coast schools. The Hoosiers were outscored 22-17 and 29-14 in the third quarter by USC and No. 2 UCLA, respectively.
Despite entering the third quarter with a nine-point lead Sunday, the Hoosiers once again struggled out of the halftime break. Oregon outscored Indiana 15-7 in the third quarter. All seven of Indiana’s points came from the free-throw line.
The third quarter was a slog. The Hoosiers and the Ducks combined for 22 points, five field goals and 14 personal fouls. Both teams remained aggressive on defense, causing many stoppages of play.
“As I said to the officials, nobody wants to watch this, right?” Indiana head coach Teri Moren said postgame. “We want to see flow; we don’t want to see a bunch of fouls being called."
Late in the third quarter, freshman guard Nevaeh Caffey was called for three fouls within 13 seconds. Seven seconds after returning to the game early in the fourth quarter, Caffey fouled out.
With a minute and a half remaining in the quarter, Indiana found itself trailing by one point. Even though the Hoosiers took the lead back with less than a second left, they looked to be on the verge of crumbling.
However, Indiana responded with an emphatic fourth quarter performance on offense. After shooting 0 for 12 in the third quarter, the Hoosiers shot 10 for 13 from the field in the fourth quarter, outscoring Oregon 28-22. Senior guard Shay Ciezki went perfect from beyond the arc on three attempts, scoring 11 points in the final quarter alone.
However, Ciezki was not the only Hoosier to produce in the fourth quarter. Junior forward Edessa Noyan and redshirt sophomore guard Lenée Beaumont tacked on eight and seven points in the final quarter, respectively. As a team, Indiana was perfect for its final six field goals and had four starters reach 10 or more points.
“I thought we really, down the stretch in fourth quarter, executed.” Moren said. “And that was impressive to watch, because we needed that to happen.”
The victory over Oregon on Sunday was a major boost to Indiana’s chances of making the Big Ten Tournament. Prior to tipoff, the Hoosiers sat 15th, the last spot in the tournament. A loss would have allowed Penn State to become 15th with the Hoosiers. Their win puts them tied for 14th in the Big Ten, tied with Purdue at 4-12 in conference play.
Indiana responded to another poor third quarter performance with an emphatic fourth quarter to push itself past Oregon on Sunday.
“We had a really really tough stretch there, where we could have went one or two ways,” Moren said. “And I thought, for this group – they kept their heads down, and they kept trying to do what we were asking them to do.”
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.
