Indiana Women Look To Build Off Elite Eight Run With Experienced Group

The Hoosiers are coming off of the program's first Elite Eight appearance and a 16-2 record in the Big Ten a. year ago. All five starters return, and optimism is high. Indiana opens the season on Friday, Nov. 5 with an exhibition game at Assembly Hall.

USA Today

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March of 2020, the members of Indiana women's basketball team, like many athletes across the world, were devastated that their season was canceled at the worst possible time, just before the NCAA Tournament.

Indiana was playing well and were team on the rise in the women's game. But they didn't get a chance to show it in the postseason.

 Fast forward to a year later, and that old mantra that "some things are worth the wait" played out for the Hoosiers  Coach Teri Moren and her team are coming off their best season in program history, making their first-ever Elite Eight appearance in last season's NCAA Tournament. 

The Hoosiers knocked off No. 1 seed North Carolina State in the Sweet Sixteen and fought till the finish until No. 3 Arizona ended their season with a 66-53 final score.

The Hoosiers celebrated its sixth consecutive 20-win season and new program record of 16 wins in Big Ten play. Finishing 21-6 overall with an impressive 16-2 conference record, Moren begins her eighth season with Indiana by bringing back all five of her starters to try to better last year's success.

Indiana opens play with an exhibition game on Friday, Nov. 5 at Simon Skjodt Assembly and the regular season opener is Nov. 10 at Butler. The home opener is Sunday, Nov. 14 in a nationally televised game against Kentucky.

Here are a few nuggets to know as the season inches closer:

Ranking: Indiana opens at No. 8 in AP preseason poll

Indiana is ranked No. 8 in the Associated Press top-25 poll, the highest preseason rank in school history. South Carolina, Connecticut, Stanford, Maryland and North Carolina State all made the top five. 

Big Ten coaches and media have the Hoosiers ranked No. 2 behind Maryland in the 2021-22 Big Ten women's basketball preseason rankings.

Senior guard Grace Berger and junior forward Mackenzie Holmes were named to the 2021-22 preseason All-Big Ten team for the 2021-22 season.

Holmes and Berger pave the way

Mackenzie Holmes, a 6-foot-3 junior from Gorham, Maine, was a standout when she first hit the court as a freshman in the 2019-20 season, playing in all 32 games and starting for two of them. In her sophomore season, Holmes started all 27 games and was the team's leading scorer with 17.8 points per game and the team's leading rebounder with 7.6 boards per game.

Her aggressiveness on defense and ability to execute on offense landed her an Associated Press All-American honorable mention selection, the program's first. 

Berger, a senior guard from Louisville, Ky., received All-American honorable mention honors from both the Women's Basketball Coaches Association and the U.S. Basketball Writers Association. Berger led the nation in triple doubles with three, averaged 16.0 points per game, 7.4 rebounds and shot 46.4% from the floor.

She scored a team-high 15 points in the Elite Eight versus Arizona finishing the season just below the 1,000-point club.

𝙿𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝙰𝚕𝚕-𝙱𝟷𝙶

⚪️@kenzieholmes_
🔴@grace_berger34 pic.twitter.com/PigzMAQe17

— Indiana Women’s Basketball (@IndianaWBB) October 26, 2021

Ali Patberg is back for one last ride

Thanks to the new NCAA rules following the COVID-19 season, graduate student Ali Patberg is using this to her benefit returning to Indiana for her seventh total basketball season, including her time playing at Notre Dame.

After Tyra Buss's graduation in 2018, Patberg quickly became the face of IU basketball because of her talent and energy level on the court. She averaged 14 points per game and shot 42.3% from the floor last season. She has scores 1,366 points during her three years at Indiana, and become the 28th member of Indiana's 1,000-point club last year.

Her honors list takes up a large portion of her bio with more than 20 awards decorating her basketball profile including WBCA All-American Honorable Mention and Senior CLASS Award Top 30 candidate.

All 5 starters return:

Berger, Holmes and Patberg are joined by starters Aleksa Gulbe and Nicole Cardano-Hillary.

Gulbe, the 6-foot-3 forward from Riga, Latvia, and Cardano-Hillary the graduate student guard from Madrid, Spain, bring international talent to the court. 

Indiana's bench is full of depth as well, led by sophomore Arielle Wisne, junior Grace Waggoner and senior Georgia transfer Caitlin Hose.

New faces this season

Freshman Kaitlin Peterson, Keyarah Berry and Mona Zaric make up the small freshman class.

Peterson scored 2,967 career points at Eufaula High School in Alabama and was named a 2021 Alabama All-Star. Berry scored 3,340 career pointsat Rockmart High School out of Georgia. Zaric hails from Novi Sad, Serbia and played with the same basketball club for 10 years.

Related stories on Indiana women's basketball

• INDIANA SCHEDULE: Here is Indiana's complete women's basketball schedule for the 2021-22 season. CLICK HERE
• HOOSIERS RANKED NO. 8: Indiana is ranked No. 8 in the Associated Press preseason poll, its highest ranking ever. CLICK HERE
• BERGER DRIVEN TO SUCCEED: After winning a gold medal with Team USA in the 2021 AmeriCup, Indiana's Grace Berger is better than ever heading into her senior season. CLICK HERE