Dominant Third Quarter Leads Indiana Past Utah In NCAA Women’s Tournament

For the seventh time in the Teri Moren coaching era, Indiana’s women’s basketball team advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Indiana Hoosiers guard Sydney Parrish (33) celebrates with teammates following their 76-68 win over the Utah Utes at Colonial Life Arena. / Jeff Blake-Imagn Images

COLUMBIA, S.C. – You could be excused if you thought the first half of the Indiana women’s basketball NCAA Tournament game against Utah was less a game of basketball and more of an exercise in looking in the mirror.

The two teams were seemingly inseparable, and a halftime deadlock was an appropriate outcome.

But a game that seemed destined to be close for its duration was turned on its head in the third quarter thanks to an outstanding two-way attack from the Hoosiers.

Indiana forced Utah to miss six of its first nine shots of the third quarter. Several of those misses were turned into easy opportunities on the other end of the floor for the Hoosiers, who missed just two of their 12 third-quarter shots.

That third-quarter surge, where Indiana outscored Utah by 11, carried the day. Indiana held off a late Utah rally to earn a 76-68 victory in a game played at the Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, S.C..

Indiana Hoosiers guard Yarden Garzon (12) looks to shoot over Utah Utes forward Maye Toure (21) in the first half at Colonial Life Arena. / Jeff Blake-Imagn Images

Five Hoosiers reached double-figure scoring, led by Yarden Garzon with 17 points. Shay Ciezki added 16 points in her first NCAA Tournament contest.

“Being able to celebrate with the team was awesome, and seeing Syd Parrish put our name on the (tournament bracket) sign, it was an awesome moment. But it only lasts for a few seconds, because we're already on to the next game. So that's our mindset,” Ciezki said.

Gianna Kneepkens led all scorers with 24 points for Utah, but the Utes were unable to muster an offensive attack from anyone else besides Maye Toure, who had 18 points. Indiana was able to take away Utah’s potent 3-point attack. The Utes were just 9 of 32 from 3-point range. Their 28.1% 3-point percentage was nine percentage points lower than Utah’s season average.

“I thought transition defense, we were superb today. We were really worried about them in transition. Didn't want to give up any open threes. Didn't feel like we did that,” Indiana coach Teri Moren said.

Garzon missed Indiana’s first shot of the third quarter, but after that it was smooth sailing for the Hoosiers.

A Ciezki 3-pointer was sandwiched by layups from Karoline Striplin and Garzon as Indiana nudged ahead 40-36. The end of that run came in the midst of a 5 minute, 32 second period in which Utah would only make one field goal.

Indiana did not look the gift horse in the mouth. Fully in attack mode, often off Utah misses, Indiana made its final six shots of the third quarter. All were scored inside the arc as Indiana took control of the game with a 58-47 lead by the end of the period.

“We always make it a point of emphasis to not let up and keep our foot on the gas pedal, and I think we did do a great job of that, whether it was playing fast and hit-aheads and running in transition or setting those drags or executing our plays,” Indiana point guard Chloe Moore-McNeil said.

Indiana’s lead peaked at 13 in the fourth quarter before Utah’s survival instinct kicked in. A 7-0 Utah run cut Indiana’s lead to 62-56 with over five minutes left to play.

Indiana, however, had the knack for the answer shot when it needed it. Ciezki, Sydney Parrish, Chloe Moore-McNeil and Garzon all made shots to answer Utah’s efforts to build a run.

Indiana Hoosiers guard Shay Ciezki (10) drives around Utah Utes guard Ines Vieira (2) in the first half at Colonial Life Arena. / Jeff Blake-Imagn Images

Utah kept coming, and it was 72-68 with a minute left. Utah elected not to foul on an Indiana possession with a minute to go. The Utes got the stop, but used a lot of time to do it. That backfired on Utah when Kneepkens and Jenna Johnson missed 3-pointers on their final meaningful possession. Indiana made four free throws in the final 11 seconds to extend the final margin.

“Our heart and our effort and our toughness won us this game today,” Moren said.

The two teams mirrored each other for most of the first half. There were 13 lead changes and four ties, most of them occurring in a tit-for-tat first quarter.

Neither team played to its strength offensively – which is 3-point shooting. In the first quarter, the Hoosiers and Utes combined to shoot 2 of 13 from 3-point range with one make apiece.

A pleasant surprise for Indiana was a great start for post player Lilly Meister. She scored eight points on 4-for-4 shooting in the first quarter.

It was tied 17-17 after that first period, but Utah used a 9-0 run to take a 28-22 lead in the second quarter. Indiana’s offense was stone cold, but the Hoosiers were able to survive thanks to their defense.

Utah had multiple opportunities to build on its 28-22 lead but couldn’t. The Utes went 4 minutes, 58 seconds without scoring, and that proved to be Indiana’s saving grace as its own offense struggled to get out of gear.

Finally, things shook loose for the Hoosiers with a 9-3 run to end the first half. A Striplin jumper with 1:54 unfroze Indiana. Parrish, who didn’t take a shot until there was 2:52 left in the second quarter, made a 3-pointer, and Moore-McNeil’s layup with a second left in the half tied the game at 31 at the break.

It was a rally that proved to be useful for the Hoosiers as they carried that momentum into a dominant third quarter.

“I think there was like two minutes to go, or a minute 30, and we got together and like in a huddle and said we need to bring it back; we need to tie this game up going into halftime so we have momentum to come out. And that's what we did,” Ciezki said.

During Moren’s coaching era, this was the seventh time in seven tries that Indiana went to the second round of the tournament. No. 1 seed South Carolina played No. 16 seed Tennessee Tech later on Friday. The Hoosiers will get the winner at a time to be determined on Sunday.

If the Hoosiers play South Carolina, as is anticipated, it will be a rematch of the 2024 NCAA Tournament game played in the Albany Regional. Indiana rallied from 22 points down to nearly pull an upset against the unbeaten Gamecocks, who eventually won the national championship. South Carolina snuck away with a 79-75 victory.

Indiana reserve Julianna LaMendola had her left foot in a boot, and Moren said she is out for the tournament.

Related stories on Indiana basketball

• MOREN COMMENTS ON DEVRIES: Teri Moren was asked about new men's basketball coach Darian DeVries on Thursday. CLICK HERE.

• HOW UTAH MEASURES UP: A look at Utah's women's basketball team - Indiana's opponent in the NCAA Tournament. CLICK HERE.