Indiana Women's Basketball Cruises Past Vermont in Season Opener

Indiana's women's basketball team opened its regular season with authority on Tuesday, shutting down Vermont 86-49 at Assembly Hall. The Hoosiers were led by freshman Yarden Garzon, who scored 19 points with five three-pointers.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana women's basketball team opened its regular season with an 86-49 win over the Vermont Catamounts on Tuesday night in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

“That was a good first win under our belt," Indiana head coach Teri Moren said. "I thought there were a lot of really good moments. We certainly have some work to do defensively, especially with some of our new faces that are trying to understand our defensive system."

Indiana is always known for its defense under Moren and the Hoosiers forced 23 turnovers and held the Catamounts to shooting 35 percent from the field. Indiana also outrebounded Vermont 39-30.

Indiana guard Sydney Parrish, playing her first game in Bloomington after transferring from Oregon, led the Hoosiers with four steals, which tied a career high. She came off the bench, and played with a lot of passion.

"She knew when she decided to come and be a part of us that we have always and will always hang our hat on the defensive side of the ball," Moren said of Parrish, who had eight points and four rebounds in 21 minutes of action. "She's a great communicator...I thought tonight she once again gave us great energy."

On offense, it was the Yarden Garzon show. The 6-foot-3 freshman guard from Israel led the Hoosiers with 19 points, including five three-pointers. It was the highest scoring freshman debut for a Hoosier since 2013-14.

"We get to see this every day in practice, not just her ability to score but her ability to facilitate," Moren said of Garzon.

Senior forward Mackenzie Holmes finished with 16 points while graduate student guard Grace Berger added 14 on the night, sliding to 12th on the Hoosiers' all-time leading scorers list with 1,545 career points.

As a team, the Hoosiers shot 49.2 percent from the field and 48 percent from the three-point line. Indiana's 12 triples tied for the fifth-most in a single game in school history.

In the first quarter, Berger got the offense rolling with her signature jump shot, but Vermont's Delaney Richason followed up with a three-pointer with under eight minutes to go in the first quarter.

Off of a fast break, Berger pushed back with two more until Richason once again hit one from downtown.

With the new season, it's hard to tell what the permanent rotation will be this early, but Moren subbed players in and out of the lineup frequently, including Parrish who came in for Garzon around the 6-minute mark.

At around the same time, Providence transfer forward Alyssa Geary entered the game for starter Mackenzie Holmes.

"To say that we have more depth, to say that you're going to see more kids playing, I think would be pretty accurate," Moren said. "At least, that's what our plan is."

Berger showed off her off-season work with a three-pointer giving her a perfect 3-for-3 start to the game. Still, Vermont kept responding and was up with less than five minutes to play in the quarter.

Minnesota transfer guard Sara Scalia wanted in on the three-point party and hit a deep one to give the Hoosiers a 10-8 lead.

Freshman guard Lexus Bargesser entered the game for Berger with under two minutes to go. Indiana finished the first quarter with a 7-0 run to finally give themselves a cushion over the Catamounts with a 20-12 lead.

"It makes us a more dangerous team overall when you have fresh legs constantly coming in the game," Berger said. "It's really hard as an opposing team to kind of withstand that."

To open up the second quarter, Holmes kept getting double-teamed and was fouled. She was 7-for-9 shooting from the field, and 2-for-4 from the line for her 16 points.

Sophomore guard Kaitlin Peterson also got into the game early for starting guard Chloe Moore-McNeil with just over seven minutes to go in the half.

"We have so many different lineups that we can go with right now with so many different options and so much firepower," Holmes said.

Vermont went through a scoring drought with just under four minutes left in the half while Garzon scored her second three of the quarter followed by Scalia's three to secure a 15-point lead at the half with a 42-27 lead.

To open up the second half, freshman forward Lilly Meister entered the scene along with Bargesser again who made her presence known with a fast break resulting in a bucket for a 19-point lead.

This jump-started an 11-0 run over 4 1/2 minutes for the Hoosiers. To round out the game, Garzon was unstoppable from beyond the arc and made her fifth three to give the Hoosiers nearly a 30-point lead.

Indiana finished with a 15-1 run and kept the Catamounts scoreless over the final four minutes to seal the first win of the regular season.

"The pieces that we have this year — they're versatile, they're dynamic, so it's really exciting to practice and keep getting better every day," Holmes said.

The Hoosiers are back in action on Friday, when they take on UMass-Lowell at 7 p.m. ET at Assembly Hall.

Stories related to Indiana women's basketball:

• HOOSIERS BLOW PAST KENTUCKY WESLEYAN Indiana women's basketball is back! In an exhibition game at the Hall, the Hoosiers tested several different lineups and defeated Kentucky Wesleyan 86-43 on Friday night. CLICK HERE
• DEPTH BY POSITION Ahead of Friday's exhibition game, here is a breakdown of Indiana women's basketball depth by position. Each player's most impressive accomplishments are listed along with a sprinkle of opinion on who will most likely be key players for the 2022-23 season. CLICK HERE