No. 9 Indiana Falls 96-64 At No. 15 Stanford, Succumbs To Cardinal Post Play

Indiana women's basketball traveled to Stanford for a top-15, early season road test. The Hoosiers lost for the first time this season as Stanford's Cameron Brink and Kiki Iriafen each scored 20 points. Indiana All-American Mackenzie Holmes was held to just eight points.

The last time Indiana women’s basketball lost by 10-plus points was two seasons ago at UConn in the NCAA Tournament. None of their four losses last year were by double digits, as they posted a program-record 28 wins. And the last time Indiana lost by 20-plus points was four seasons ago at Oregon in the NCAA Tournament.

But Sunday night, No. 9 Indiana was blown out at No. 15 Stanford, 96-64. The Cardinal led by 28 points at halftime and won by 32. Stanford’s preseason All-American Cameron Brink and fellow forward Kiki Iriafen scored the game-high 20 points, and both posted double-doubles with 17 and 11 rebounds, respectively.

“I know I've never lost by what was it, like 40 something points, ever in my life,” Indiana guard Sydney Parrish said post-game. “I don’t think a lot of the girls on the team have. So I think coach was saying this might be a blessing in disguise and widen our eyes … we got to be better, a lot better, playing two big posts like Kiki and Cam. That's on me and Mackenzie.”

Indiana’s preseason All-American, Mackenzie Holmes, was held scoreless in the first half. The forward went 0-for-5 from the floor in that span, with two turnovers. Indiana turned the ball over 11 times in the first 20 minutes and shot just 2-for-17 from deep. The Hoosiers were only outscored in the third quarter 21-16 — compared to 11 points in the first and 17 in the second — and outscored Stanford in the fourth. But by then, the deficit was unsurmountable. Stanford shot 8-for-17 from three in the opening half.

“Seemed like they couldn't miss and those are back breakers, especially when you were willing to give those up,” Indiana head coach Teri Moren said. “I think it can can stifle your team a little bit, and I thought we played on our heels a lot after that. We tried to get all the points back in bunches. We're not a team that needs to be taking 32 threes. That's my fault.”

The last time Brink faced Indiana in November 2021, the forward scored 21 points and grabbed 22 rebounds. Brink, Iriafen and Nunu Agara caused headaches for Indiana’s four-guard lineup. At the end of the third quarter, Indiana guard Lexus Bargesser sprinted to the block and trapped Brink to force the travel. But Brink swatted Bargesser’s layup with two seconds left as the Hoosiers sought the last shot. On the inbound, Brink blocked another shot.

Holmes ultimately finished with eight points, advancing to second on Indiana’s all-time points list. She also picked up four personal fouls. Moren said Holmes was sped up and occasionally late to kick the ball out of double-teams. Regardless, Indiana struggled to knock down shots and shot 22-for-63, or 35%, from the floor and 5-for-32, or 16% from three. Iriafen had the best percentage on Stanford and went 9-for-12.

“Not only can Iriafen play with her back to the basket and use her physicality, but her ability to knock down jumpers from the high post,” Moren said. “When you have the post play that they had with Cameron and Kiki, I thought they were really, really terrific. I'm still proud of our kids. We're gonna learn from it … there's certainly a lot of things we got to get better at, improve.”

Now 1-1, Indiana plays Murray State at 7 p.m. ET on Friday at home.

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