Indiana Women's Basketball Ends Bahamas Trip With Game Against Miami on Saturday Night

No. 4-ranked Indiana suffered its first loss of the season on Thanksgiving Day, losing to reigning NCAA champion Stanford in the Bahamas. Now, the Hoosiers look to finish the trip on a high note with a Saturday night game against the Miami Hurricanes.

IU Athletics

Indiana women's basketball team will finish off its trip to the Baha Mar Pink Flamingo Classic in the Bahamas on Saturday night with a game against the Miami Hurricanes.

On Thanksgiving Day, the No. 4-ranked Hoosiers fought hard until the end, but ultimately lost their first game of the season to No. 7 Stanford, the reigning NCAA champions, falling 69-66.

"We'e disappointed with how we played, but our fight was there," Indiana graduate student guard Ali Patberg said. "Our energy, our willingness not to give up when they made their run the first quarter and when they tried to make their runs in the second half, we had answers."

Patberg led the pack with 19 points followed by Nicole Cardaño-Hillary, who put up 18.

Despite stellar games from Patberg and Cardaño-Hillary, the Hoosiers' shooting was off. Indiana shot 32.4% from the field compared to Stanford's 41.4%.

Stanford outrebounded the Hoosiers 59-38, an area Patberg said the team has to work on if they want to beat the best teams in the country.

"We have to be able to be disappointed and learn from it, but be ready for the next one because, like I said, it's early, and we're going to learn a lot from this," Patberg said. 

Saturday night's game with Miami tips off at 8:30 p.m. ET.  The last meeting between the two was back in 2019, when Indiana won 58-45 in Coral Gables, Fla. The Hurricanes, like Indiana, started their season 4-0 before falling to Washington State 62-47 in the Bahamas on Thursday.

Senior guard Karla Erjavec was Miami's leading scorer with 11 points, but a 29.6% field goal percentage sent them to their first loss of the season.

This season, Miami is led by graduate student guard Kelsey Marshall, who averages 11.6 points and 4.0 rebounds per game. The team is averaging 58 points per game while shooting 33.1 percent from the floor.

"Just having all of these talented teams down here says a lot about the fact that we all want to be tested early,'' Indiana coach Teri Moren said. "For us, we have so much respect for our league and wanting to prepare our kids for what they have to look forward to.''

The Hoosiers return home to host No. 5-ranked North Carolina State in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge next Thursday.

How to watch Indiana against Miami

• Who: Indiana Hoosiers (4-1) vs. Miami Hurricanes (4-1)
• When: 8:30 p.m. ET, Saturday, Nov. 27
• Where: Baha Mar Convention Center, Nassau, Bahamas
• TV/Streaming: FloHoops
• Radio: WHCC 105.1 FM

Related stories on Indiana women's basketball

• INDIANA FALLS TO STANFORD FOR FIRST LOSS: No. 4-ranked Indiana suffered it first loss of the season on Thursday, falling to Stanford 69-66 in the Bahamas. If there's anything to be thankful for in this defeat, Indiana proved it can hang with the champs even on a day when shots weren't falling for the Hoosiers.
• HOOSIERS BALL WITH STANFORD ON TURKEY DAY: The Indiana women's basketball team is soaking up some sun in the Bahamas over the holiday, but there is also plenty of important basketball, too, starting with a matchup against reigning NCAA champion and No. 7-ranked Stanford on Thanksgiving Day. CLICK HERE.
• INDIANA BEATS QUINNIPIAC IN THRILLING ROAD GAME: After another slow start, Indiana came alive in the third quarter and kept that momentum going until the final whistle. Grace Berger led the Hoosiers with 17 points in their 67-59 win over Quinnipiac and even cashed in on another buzzer beater half-court shot. CLICK HERE.