LIVE BLOG: Indiana Women Take On No. 1 UCLA At Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall

Follow along as we write about Indiana's game against No. 1 UCLA as it happens.

Indiana Head Coach Teri Moren watches during the Indiana versus Bellarmine women's basketball game at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Welcome to Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall! We're back with a women's live blog as the Hoosiers try to succeed in the monumental task of beating unbeaten No. 1 UCLA.

Some good news straight away. Indiana all-everything Yarden Garzon should be good to go. She is not listed on the Big Ten injury availability report and has taken part in all of the pregame warmups. She left Sunday's game against Wisconsin after a fourth quarter collision. Didn't seem serious at the time and it turned out that it wasn't.

UCLA lists no one on its injury report. For an overview of the Bruins, read this.

This game is on national TV on FOX, a forum worthy of the occasion. Crowd should be decent. The bad weather isn't supposed to descend on Bloomington until Sunday.

• Starters - Indiana: Lilly Meister, Shay Ciezki, Yarden Garzon, Sydney Parrish and Chloe Moore-McNeil.

UCLA: Kiki Rice, Elina Aarnisalo, Gabriela Jaquez, Angela Dugalic and Lauren Betts.

• It's the first time since 1994 that a No. 1 women's basketball team has played inside Assembly Hall. Penn State was No. 1 when it visited that season and the Nittany Lions prevailed in a close game.

• Lower bowl is well-populated, but this won't be a sellout. Balcony has a few fans, but not many.

• I don't know who decided what shade of blue was the right one for UCLA way back when, but it is such a good hue. UCLA's uniforms in all sports are always a joy to see. Two teams that have classic basketball uniforms that should never change them.

• Ha! I write that ... and Indiana is wearing black uniforms today. They're sharp, but Indiana has good colors and shouldn't deviate from their core look. I just think of fans who might only to get to see one game. They'd probably want to see the Hoosiers in the classic duds. That's why I'm not in retail marketing.

It's game time! Let's go.

• UCLA 13-4, 4:43 1Q. Wow. UCLA center Lauren Betts is a problem, but we knew that going in. In the Meet The Opponent story we did, I compared her influence to what Purdue's Zach Edey had in men's games during his career and that seems spot on. The only thing stopping her is UCLA itself as the Bruins didn't feed the post on a couple of possessions.

It's not just on the offensive end. The lane is basically a no-go zone. Shay Ciezki tried to dribble around Betts, orbiting her at one point to try to find space. She thought she found it at the free throw line, but Betts stepped out to block the shot anyway.

Fans are incensed with what they perceive as non-calls or wrong calls. I don't know. Objectively? UCLA is big all-around and you get back to that debate on how you officiate size. The Bruins are just way bigger than the Hoosiers and I don't think they've gotten away with anything untoward.

• UCLA 15-7, 3:48 1Q. Hoosiers forced to call a timeout as they couldn't get the ball up the court. UCLA is 7 of 12 from the field. Indiana is 3 of 8 with three turnovers.

• UCLA 18-14, 1:39 1Q. Hoosiers finding their feet a bit. Nice job by Sydney Parrish to draw Lauren Betts away from the rim as she fed it past her to Lilly Meister for an easy bucket. Indiana defense is doing a solid job on the perimeter, forcing the Bruins' guards into difficult shots.

• End first quarter - UCLA 18, Indiana 16. Hoosiers finish the quarter with a 9-0 run as they mastered the delicate art of denying Lauren Betts while also putting bodies on UCLA's guards. Lexus Bargesser deserves a lot of credit for the latter. It was a team effort on the former as there were sometimes three Hoosiers in Betts' orbit. Really nice recovery by Indiana after UCLA threw the first few haymakers. Yarden Garzon has 7 points to lead the Hoosiers.

The Hoosiers respond with their own 9-0 run to end the first quarter ‼️ @IndianaWBB #B1GWBBall on FOX 📺 pic.twitter.com/QJcWEtoWlM

— Big Ten Women's Basketball (@B1Gwbball) January 4, 2025

• Ha! They're doing the pick the song thing on the videoboard. "A Bar Song" by Shaboozey came up as a choice. While some fans were into it, I heard plenty of dissenting voices too. Overplayed and over it. Nice to know I'm not alone on that. That is your musical interlude of the live blog. Back to the game.

• UCLA 24-16, 4:27 2Q. UCLA has turned up the wick defensively and Indiana has missed some of the good looks it has had. Result is a scoreless second quarter for Indiana.

That said, it could be a whole lot worse for the Hoosiers. Take Lauren Betts and Gabriela Jaquez out of it, and UCLA is just 3 of 16 from the rest of its players.

Indiana has major foul problems. Yarden Garzon, Sydney Parrish, Chloe Moore-McNeil, Karoline Striplin and Lilly Meister all have two fouls. It's been a tightly officiated game to be sure, but apart from perhaps an anticipation foul called on Meister, most of the calls have been decent by my reckoning.

Teri Moren wouldn't agree. She got really angry with the officials during the timeout ... to the point where Parrish had to calm Moren down.

• UCLA 31-17, 2:56 2Q. Indiana can't get anything going offensively and the Bruins are starting to draw away. Hoosiers are 0-for-5 with six turnovers in the second quarter. Making matters worse, Sydney Parrish picked up a third foul on an off-ball foul.

• End first half - UCLA 33, Indiana 21. Some encouraging play from the Hoosiers to close the second quarter, but that was a rough period for Indiana. Hoosiers were 2 of 11 from the field with seven turnovers. Yarden Garzon leads Indiana with 8 points. Lauren Betts has 9 points and 5 rebounds for the Bruins.

Fans boo the officials as they leave the floor, but fouls were 12-11. Officiating big teams is hard.

• UCLA 49-36, 3:29 3Q. Kind of just have to shrug your shoulders. Indiana has played pretty good defense, but the Bruins have converted their looks anyway and are 7 of 12 from the field in the quarter. Lauren Betts is 3 of 4 from the field and she does a solid job passing out of double teams.

Hoosiers doing a decent job of finding the seam between the Lauren Betts zone and the arc, finding some jumpers here and there, but it hasn't been enough to threaten the Bruins. Hoosiers are just 3 of 13 from 3-point range. To mount a serious comeback, that will have to get a lot better.

• UCLA 49-36, 3:16 3Q. It doesn't seem like, but the shooting percentage are close. UCLA is at 46.5% and Indiana is at 45.2%. The rub is in how many shots they're getting. UCLA has taken 12 more shots as their second-chance points (8) and those Indiana turnovers in the second quarter have created that disparity.

• UCLA 56-43, :44.8 3Q. Indiana mounted an 8-0 run to cut the deficit down to nine, but the Bruins rapidly answered and pushed their advantage back up to 14 points.

Fans upset at the officials again after a foul was called on Lilly Meister when Lauren Betts caught the ball and immediately went to the rim. Meister absorbed contact, but was inside the charge circle too. Earlier, Karoline Striplin pleaded her case to an official that she was being hooked by Betts when UCLA was playing offense.

• End third quarter - UCLA 56, Indiana 44. Hoosiers not out of it by any stretch. Indiana shot 60% in the third quarter, usually good enough to make a run and they did cut into the Bruins' lead a bit, but UCLA converted 55.6% in the period. That number has to come down for the Hoosiers to make a serious charge.

• UCLA 63-49, 6:11 4Q. Hoosiers just can't get that game-breaking bucket to fall. Indiana has had a few opportunities to get the deficit back to single digits, but hasn't been able to. UCLA has been deliberate offensively. I wouldn't say the Bruins are in clock-eating mode, but they're not far off.

Shout-out to Julianna LaMendola, who is making things happen with her effort. The much-appreciated "good floor game" type of performance.

• UCLA 65-51, 4:25 4Q. Indiana is 3 of 10 from the field in the fourth quarter. Shame because UCLA seems to be playing at half-speed. Opportunity was there to make something happen.

Three-point shooting will be lamented in the final reckoning. Hoosiers are 4 of 19 from long range. Not the right opponent to have the 3-point shots off the mark against.

• UCLA 66-55, 2:25 4Q. Repetitive comment, but UCLA is in cruise control mode, but Indiana can't make them pay for it. Indiana taking too long to get a shot off in its half-court offense and has missed a couple of open looks. UCLA hasn't pulled away, but the Bruins might have been there for the taking if Indiana had taken advantage.

• FINAL: UCLA 73, Indiana 62. Solid effort by Indiana, but the Hoosiers paid for their shortcomings - a bad second quarter and 3-point shooting that went missing. The fouls (Sydney Parrish and Karoline Striplin both fouled out) you can understand - UCLA has a huge size advantage and skill to go with it.

Fun to watch Lauren Betts, a possible National Player of the Year winner. She scored 25 points and had 12 rebounds. Her influence was felt in a big way on both ends of the floor. Fans and Teri Moren thought she got away with some things in the paint. I think a player that big and that skilled is going to give off that impression because they're basically impossible to guard. Even with Indiana fouling late, the foul disparity was just 24-22 in UCLA's favor.

There was some drama after the game as UCLA's Janiah Barker got into it with someone out of my view. Fans got involved. Never got too out of hand, but not necessary. Just take your win.

Yarden Garzon led Indiana with 19 points. Chloe Moore-McNeil had 12 points and Shay Ciezki added 11 points.

Indiana next plays at Northwestern on Wednesday. Thanks for reading the live blog!

Related stories on Indiana basketball

• HOW TO WATCH: Here's how to watch today's Indiana-UCLA women's basketball game. CLICK HERE.

• INDIANA WOMEN WIN SIXTH STRAIGHT: Wisconsin was routed at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall as the Hoosiers improved to 2-0 in Big Ten play. CLICK HERE.

• PARRISH RETURNS, INDIANA BEATS OAKLAND: Sydney Parrish was back for the Hoosiers as Indiana defeated Oakland 90-55. CLICK HERE.