Indiana Pulls Away Late In 77-71 Win Over Illinois. Holmes, Moore-McNeil Combine For 49 Points

No. 16 Indiana women's basketball resumed Big Ten play Sunday by hosting Illinois. The Hoosiers picked up their 10th straight victory to improve to 11-1 and 2-0 in the conference. Mackenzie Holmes and Chloe Moore-McNeil totaled 49 points.

With 41 seconds left in the game, Indiana women’s basketball sophomore guard Yarden Garzon patiently waited in the corner three-point spot. As senior point guard Chloe Moore-McNeil drove through the lane, four Illinois players ran into the paint, leaving the perimeter unattended. Moore-McNeil swung a one-handed pass to Garzon.

Moore-McNeil said postgame they practice that feed every day. Garzon’s shot rimmed out — though hugged the metal — and then fell in. The sophomore’s triple, her second of the afternoon, put Indiana up 71-67. The Hoosiers then sank their last six free throws Sunday to clinch their Big Ten home-opening win over Illinois, 77-71. Indiana is now 2-0 in the conference, concluding 2023 with 10 consecutive victories, and has won 16 straight against the Illini.

Graduate forward Mackenzie Holmes led all scorers Sunday with a season-high 30 points, shooting 10-for-14 from the floor and 10-for-12 at the line. Moore-McNeil scored 19 points, the most this season for the point guard, to tie her career-high. Illinois also had two players reach their season-highs: Makira Cook with 24 — who put up 33 at Indiana last season — and Kendall Bostic with 18 points and 11 rebounds for her fourth double-double.

“Every game, I trust that my teammates are gonna find me when I'm open, and I knew that I just had to do my work down there and get deep position,” Holmes said. “It's just the confidence that my teammates and my coaches instill in me every day … So, I think it’s just knowing that I have to go out and play confident and be great on both sides of the ball.”

Sunday’s game was eerily similar to last season’s nail-biter between these two opponents in Bloomington. Indiana held Illinois to 11 points in the first quarter, the Illini outscored Indiana in the second and third to trail by only one possession, but Indiana regained the advantage in the last and most high-scoring quarter. Perhaps Grace Berger’s return to Assembly Hall spurred both sides to repeat last season’s game. Berger, the program’s all-time winningest player, was presented with her Big Ten Championship ring pregame in front of 11,600, the season's largest crowd.

“I tell them all the time, hopefully they're listening,” Indiana head coach Teri Moren said post-game, who handed the ring to Berger. “[The fans] get us to the finish line with their energy that they give us. They know when to cheer, they know when we need them the most … Grace Berger being here was certainly a special moment for us. We haven't seen Grace for some time. Just being able to present her with her ring, the applause I think that she got was no-doubt well deserved.”

With seven minutes to go, Cook tied the game 56-all and shushed the crowd. That hardly dampened the mood. With three minutes left, and Indiana up three, Holmes and Sydney Parrish both forced the jump-ball turnover in Indiana’s favor. Holmes reacted with perhaps the most emotion she showed all game. Parrish shot just 2-for-10 from the floor, but she helped out with that turnover and seven rebounds. It also wasn’t the first time Garzon and Moore-McNeil have strung together clutch baskets late in games.

Sophomore Lilly Meister, usually the substitute for Holmes, played alongside the All-American when Moren opted to briefly match Illinois’ two-big lineup, and she was productive. Meister went perfect from the floor and finished with eight points. The Hoosiers went 18-for-22 at the free throw line, an area in which they’ve struggled in to begin the season. Despite 16 turnovers, the Hoosiers delivered an all-around gutsy performance. Indiana will next host Michigan on Thursday night.

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