Indiana Women's Basketball: 'Most Potential in Terms of Their Scoring Power'

Indiana women's basketball coach Teri Moren has coached nine different teams, all different but sort of the same she said. The current roster has the most offensive firepower all while staying true to its defensive identity, Moren said.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Ninth year Indiana women's basketball coach Teri Moren has undoubtedly created a winning and positive culture as a Hoosier. She's had many great teams with all levels of success, but one sticks out to her — this one.

"I think this team has the most potential in terms of their scoring power," Moren said. "We have more pieces out there that can shoot it much much better beyond the arc than just one or two we've had in the past."

Those pieces come in the form of five (almost six) players who are each averaging double-scoring figures led by senior forward Mackenzie Holmes with 21.1 points per game. 

From beyond the arc, freshman guard Yarden Garzon shoots 46.5 percent ranking second in the Big Ten while junior guard Sydney Parrish adds 34.3 percent from downtown. Only four Hoosiers have yet to make a three on the roster, and one of them, Kiandra Browne, only started playing last Sunday.

"All five of our starters can clearly step out and hit threes, which is a great luxury to have," Moren said.

Moren made sure to emphasize she loves every team she's coached. Each one was different yet the same, she said. You have the NIT championship era with Tyra Buss, the NCAA tournament runs with Ali Patberg and now a No. 6-ranked team that just got its star player Grace Berger back in early Big Ten play.

"We've put together a team that has the most potential in terms of their fire power offensively when we can get going, but what has held us has been our defense," Moren said.

See, it's more rare Moren talks about her offense she runs. She said she knows that's obviously a must in basketball and people get hung up on the scoring, but she will always revert back to being sound on defense first. 

When she arrived to Indiana, Moren and her staff wanted their defense to be stingy, gritty and earn that identity from opposing teams. It's worked.

This season, the Hoosiers are ranked No. 1 defensively in the Big Ten while their offense falls at No. 5. When a team has both weapons, perhaps it's a ticket to a longer run in the NCAA tournament.

Last season, five players still reached double-scoring figures, but the three-point percentages were a bit lower across the board. It's nice to have the option of shooting long shots and Moren is grateful, but the Big Ten should really watch out for the scrappiness that comes with that scoring power.

"We're always going to go back to who we are and that's hopefully a really good defensive team as well," Moren said.

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• INDIANA DEFEATS NORTHWESTERN ON THE ROAD Indiana women's basketball shut down Northwestern 72-50 on the road while senior guard Grace Berger and junior forward Kiandra Browne rejoined the game after battling injuries. Despite being in practice only a week, Berger was the team's second leading scorer behind senior forward Mackenzie Holmes. CLICK HERE