'It's Fun to Win': Sara Scalia of Indiana Women's Basketball Tears it up From Three

Indiana women's basketball has always been known for its defense, but when shooters like Sara Scalia joined the team this season, the three-point possibilities and scoreboard numbers have risen just like the Hoosiers' No. 2 ranking.

COLUMBUS, Ind. — Sara Scalia was feeling it, and not much could change that as the Indiana women's basketball guard hit 6-of-8 three pointers in the Hoosiers' 83-59 win over No. 13 Ohio State Monday night.

Scalia came in off the bench to score a season-high 24 points as the team's second leading scorer behind forward Mackenzie Holmes, who tallied a career-high 33 points.

"Early, I just got a couple open looks that I hit, so once a few started falling, just keep shooting and obviously trust the work I put in to be able to hit shots specifically from the three-point line," Scalia said.

Scalia has had quite the college basketball journey as many young athletes do. The Stillwater, Minn. native played her first three seasons at Minnesota where she left the program ranked seventh all time in career three-point percentage with a 38.1 percent clip from downtown.

She was a bright spot for the Golden Gophers, so why did she leave her home?

"It's fun to win," Scalia said. "I think that's just the biggest thing. I like to win, and obviously we're still not done yet. We got a long way to go, but I think just playing on a team like this with a lot of talent, it's really fun, and everyone's going to have their nights."

This season, Minnesota holds a 2-12 conference record while Indiana has only lost one game and is ranked No. 2 in the nation. Three-point shooters like Scalia are certainly needed to load up the Hoosiers' offensive arsenal as they soon move into tournament play.

"People like Sara and Syd and Yarden are huge for what I'm able to do in the post because they just space the floor," Holmes said. "Sara has a night like she has [Monday], you can't leave her. You have to change your defense for a player like Sara who's just so prolific from outside the arc."

Moren said she felt like Scalia was the missing ingredient the Hoosiers needed when they got her from the portal. The team had to scout against her and knew what type of shooter she was. But defensively, Scalia wanted to be challenged.

"She also came because she wanted to become a more complete basketball player," Moren said.

Three-point shooting is great and flashy, but Moren and her Hoosiers always emphasize sound defense, which is why Indiana's defense ranks No. 1 in the Big Ten holding its opponents to 60.3 points per game.

"If you're going to come to Indiana, you have to sort of fall in love with this idea that we're going to guard and we're going to guard hard, and we're going to rebound the ball," Moren said. "We're going to be stingy defensively."

Scalia has embraced that side of the ball and has contributed in ways the box score can't show. She even had a stretch of contests starting in late December where she only scored a handful of points if that, but her grittiness in guarding was always there.

"I think right now you're seeing Sara being a confident defender and doing what we're asking her to do and having success, but I also think that it is also transferring over to what she's doing offensively for us right now," Moren said.

Scalia agreed and said her confidence is what's made the offensive difference for her, although she's more focused on winning and doing multiple jobs for her team.

The senior is shooting 35.3 percent from beyond the arc while her team shoots 36.9 percent as a whole. Moren and other Big Ten coaches have commented on how Indiana has a lot more power from three this season, something the team wasn't used to last year.

Whether Scalia is scrambling for a lose ball that doesn't show up in the stats sheet or sinking six threes to lead her team to victory, her spark has come at the right time.

"I'm thrilled like crazy she's found her confidence and really happy with the way she's been playing for us," Moren said.

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