Indiana women’s basketball is on a two-game win streak after recording its first Big Ten wins of the season against Northwestern on Feb. 1 and Wisconsin on Feb. 4.
The Hoosiers will aim to continue that streak in a rematch against Purdue at 2 p.m. Sunday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington.
In the first contest of the season between the two squads, Purdue snapped a 13-game losing streak to Indiana to claim the 33rd Barn Burner Trophy on Jan. 25 in West Lafayette, Indiana. The Hoosiers fell 80-69 after the Boilermakers took a double-digit lead midway through the second quarter and Indiana couldn’t catch back up.
Senior guard Shay Ciezki scored 37 points for Indiana in that contest. While redshirt sophomore guard Lenée Beaumont had 13 points, no other Hoosier recorded more than seven points. Purdue, in contrast, had seven players score more than seven points.
The game was a prime example of how the two teams’ seasons have gone so far. Ciezki leads the Big Ten in scoring with 23.9 points per game, carrying the bulk of the Hoosiers’ scoring while other players have struggled to consistently contribute.
Beaumont is second on the team in scoring 13.9 points per game, followed by sophomore forward Zania Socka-Nguemen, who averages 11.8 points per contest. However, the 6-foot-3 Socka-Nguemen has missed time this season with injuries to both of her legs.
In Socka-Nguemen's place, junior forward Edessa Noyan has slotted into the Hoosiers’ starting lineup. She averages 4.7 points and five rebounds per game. Behind Noyan, sophomore forward Faith Wiseman and junior forward Jade Ondineme have been backups. They’ve averaged 1.3 and two rebounds per game, respectively.
Purdue redshirt junior guard Tara Daye leads the Boilermakers in scoring with 12.4 points per game, but scored just eight in the first game against the Hoosiers this season. Second on the team is junior guard Kiki Smith, who averages 10.2 points per game. Sophomore guard Naya Smith led Purdue in scoring against Indiana on Jan. 25 with 13 points.
Indiana currently sits at 15th place in the Big Ten standings with a 2-10 Big Ten record, but with a win over Purdue — which currently sits at 3-9 in the conference — the Hoosiers would jump to 14th. The top 15 teams in the Big Ten make the conference tournament March 4-8, so a win over the Boilermakers would be crucial for the Hoosiers’ postseason hopes with five games remaining in the regular season — including its West Coast trip Feb. 12 and Feb. 15 against USC and No. 2 UCLA, respectively.
Tipoff between Indiana and Purdue is slated for 2 p.m. Sunday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington. The contest will stream on Big Ten+.
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.
