Grace Berger's Foundational Indiana Career Ends With Early NCAA Tournament Exit

Grace Berger was instrumental in the growth of Indiana women's basketball, and her five-year career came to an end on Monday with a 70-68 loss to No. 9 seed Miami in the NCAA Tournament Round of 32.

© Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The No. 1 seed Indiana Hoosiers had their sights set on a national championship, but instead they walked off Branch McCracken Court on Monday with tears in their eyes and a 70-68 loss to No. 9 seed Miami in the NCAA Tournament Round of 32.

Indiana dug itself a 14-point hole in the second quarter, but rallied to tie the game at 58 points apiece on a Mackenzie Holmes layup. The Hoosiers had a chance to take the lead down the stretch, but Chloe Moore-McNeil missed an open layup with 22 seconds remaining. Two missed free throws from Miami's Destiny Harden kept the Hoosiers afloat yet again, and Indiana coach Teri Moren called a timeout down by one point with 20 seconds left – another opportunity to escape with a win.

But Grace Berger's step-through floater bounced off the rim, and Sydney Parrish fouled out, sending Haley Cavinder to the line. Cavinder sunk both free throws, only for freshman Yarden Garzon to set a tense Assembly Hall on fire with a step-back 3-pointer seconds later. 

In the end, though, the Hoosiers couldn't get a defensive stop when they needed it most. Harden sunk a contested floater over Berger, and Indiana failed to get a shot off with 3.3 seconds left, ending its season in heartbreaking fashion. 

"They just didn't go down," Berger said on Indiana's shots in the final moments. "We had plenty of girls step up, have the confidence to take them. Sometimes they just don't go in. That's the part, you have the confidence to know that it's a possibility that you're going to miss. Everybody misses, and the ball wasn't rolling our way tonight."

And for the fifth-year senior Berger, this marks the end of an all-time great's career – far too soon. Berger was instrumental in the growth of Indiana women's basketball, helping guide a program with sparse historical success to one of the nation's best.

"I knew it was eventually going to come to an end," Berger said. "It was inevitable, but I loved being a Hoosier every single second of it. It was the best decision I've ever made, and coach Moren is someone that is going to impact me far more than just my five years here. So I love this program, I love this university, I love my coaches, I love my teammates. It's sad that it's ending, but I'm just very grateful that it happened."

Indiana's Grace Berger (34) shoots over Miami (FL)'s Haley Cavinder (14) during the first half of the NCAA Tournament Second Round game between Indiana and Miami (FL) at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Monday, March 20, 2023 :: Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK

Before Berger, a Louisville, Ky. native, arrived in Bloomington, the Indiana's women's basketball program had never been higher than a No. 6 seed and never made it to the second weekend in five trips to the NCAA Tournament. 

As a freshman coming off the bench in 2018-19, Berger helped Indiana earn a No. 10 seed and reach the Round of 32. The 2020 NCAA Tournament was cancelled due to COVID-19 when Berger was a sophomore, averaging 13.1 points in 30 starts for an Indiana team in the AP top-25 poll all season. 

The following year, Berger averaged 15.4 points as No. 4 seed Indiana made a run to the Elite Eight, its best NCAA Tournament finish in program history. She helped guide the Hoosiers back to the Sweet 16 in 2022, where No. 3 seed Indiana fell to perennial power, No. 2 seed UConn. And with Berger as a fifth-year senior, the Indiana women earned their first No. 1 seed in program history.

"It means a lot," Berger said about the program's growth. "There's no reason that Indiana women's basketball shouldn't be a blue blood and the top team in the country every single year. I just hope that the work that I did with my teammates every single day hopefully impacts that. Indiana is a great place to be, like I said, and I wouldn't change it for the world."

Although Berger's career ends without achieving the goal of a Final Four or national title, that doesn't diminish her impact on the program's growth. 

"She's helped build this program," Indiana coach Teri Moren said. "We're not sitting here where we are today, we weren't sitting here a year ago, probably three years out without Grace Berger on this roster. Just so grateful that, as I said that, that she decided to become an Indiana Hoosier five years ago. When she had a lot of different options, she chose us. We're so grateful. And again, she's going to be one of the very best to ever put on a uniform. I can't wait to see what's next for her. She's been an unbelievable kid to coach. She's been an unbelievable teammate. That's why they're so emotional about her, because she means so much to all of us. I don't know if I can quantify in words just how important she's been to us and this program."

Berger has made a clear impact on her teammates, too, especially Sydney Parrish, who transferred from Oregon to Indiana before this season.

"I've been with [Berger] for only a year," Parrish said. "But in my first years of college basketball I was really lost, and like I said, she's a big reason why I came here and she makes everyone around her better. She's a big reason why a lot of girls want to come here and play basketball now. Sara [Scalia] probably wouldn't be here if Grace wasn't here because Grace makes this program run. Everything goes through Grace, and she's going to be one of the best ever to come through Indiana women's basketball. It's just not going to be the same without her. We're going to miss her."

Indiana fans set attendance records all season, most recently with 14,480 fans on Monday night, the second-largest crowd in Indiana women's basketball history. Berger played a huge role in the growth of the fanbase, too, and she hopes that continues for years to come.

"I hope it's the norm, and I think it will be," Berger said. "We have great fans, and part of the reason I wanted to come here was to help build that fanbase to be what it is on the men's side, so I just want that to be hopefully part of my legacy to keep coming back and supporting this program because it's something that's super special."

Related stories on Indiana basketball

• GAME STORY: Indiana women's basketball ended its season with a two-point loss to 9-seed Miami after overcoming a double-digit deficit it had for the majority of the game. CLICK HERE