No. 16 Indiana Bounces Back With 85-62 Win Over Minnesota, Mackenzie Holmes Scores 32

No. 16 Indiana women's basketball took care of Minnesota Wednesday night at home to recover from the team's 27-point loss to Iowa Saturday. Mackenzie Holmes had a game-high 32 points, as the Hoosiers kept their foothold of second place in the Big Ten.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana women’s basketball’s Mackenzie Holmes was one bucket shy of a new career high in points Wednesday night as the No. 16 Hoosiers rebounded from their loss at Iowa by beating Minnesota, 85-62. Holmes ended with a game-high 32 points, and teammates Sydney Parrish and Sara Scalia each drained five three-pointers.

“The Big Ten doesn’t wait for anybody,” Holmes said post-game. “We gotta move, game after game. They're gonna just keep coming and we have to be ready. We have to learn from the Iowa game, but we can't let it affect us for the next game and let it become a snowball effect.”

The Hoosiers won by 23 points and pulled away in the second quarter. Minnesota led 13-10 midway through the first, then Holmes and Scalia combined for 10 straight points before the Golden Gophers knocked down two clutch shots to close to within five. But Holmes, Scalia, and sophomore Yarden Garzon scored all of the team’s 24 second-quarter points to put Indiana in control, 47-29.

There it was, that click and rhythm of two Hoosier scoring runs that totaled 19 points. Mara Braun, Minnesota’s leading scorer with an average of 19 points per game, shot only twice in the first half and did not score. While Indiana’s Chloe Moore-McNeil and Lexus Bargesser couldn’t stop Caitlin Clark Saturday in the team’s 27-point loss, they shut down Braun.

“Maybe that's why Chloe was a little bit more fatigued-looking in the second half,” Indiana head coach Teri Moren said. “She has to expend so much energy on guarding kids of her talent. So I thought Lexi also did a great job … I thought for the most part we did a really good job keeping her as quiet as we can … she's had some unbelievable performances for them.”

With three minutes left in the third quarter, Minnesota trimmed Indiana’s 18-point half-time lead to 12. On the next scoring possession, though, Scalia buried her fifth and final three-pointer in transition, the dagger to Minnesota’s last real comeback chance. Scalia finished with 22 points, and Parrish had 15, along with five assists.

Minnesota freshman Grace Grocholski led the Gophers with 19 points. Braun finally got it going in the fourth quarter with three jumpers, but it was too late. The sophomore ended with 14 points. 

Indiana now has won the last seven meetings in the Minnesota series. The Hoosiers improve to 15-2 on the season with the win — and keep their foothold at second place in the Big Ten with a 6-1 record — behind unbeaten No. 2 Iowa. Indiana returns to action at 2 p.m. Sunday at Purdue for the Barn Burner Trophy. The game will air on Peacock.

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