No. 16 Hoosiers Fall to No. 14 Buckeyes 78-70, Ending Four-Game Win Streak
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana led at the end of every quarter Thursday night except for the last one.
The No. 16 Hoosiers battled the No. 14 Ohio State Buckeyes in Assembly Hall and had a chance to pick up their second-straight ranked win and fifth-straight win overall.
But offensive struggles down the stretch cost Indiana as Ohio State won the final quarter 25-16 to win the game 78-70. This is the third-straight top-25 win for the Buckeyes (first two came against Michigan and Maryland).
"This is probably one of the more disappointing losses we've had in my tenure here at Indiana," head coach Teri Moren said. "I thought we had moments defensively where we were really good, but tonight was just a matter of us not being able to put enough points on the board to win."
Indiana shot just 27% in the fourth quarter. They were shooting an average of 45% through the first three quarters.
A big reason to that was in the fourth quarter, Ohio State switched from playing man-to-man to a 2-3 zone on defense, which gave Indiana problems.
Mackenzie Holmes, who scored 17 points on the night, said the 2-3 zone made Indiana stagnant for much of the fourth quarter.
"We knew that the zone would eventually come, and we were prepared for that," Moren said. "Unfortunately, we have still continued to struggle from beyond the arc."
Moren wanted the Hoosiers to get the ball inside a little more when faced with the 2-3 zone.
The other two areas that really hurt the Hoosiers in Thursday's loss was three-point shooting and turnovers.
Ali Patberg knocked down Indiana's first three-point attempt of the day, but after that, the Hoosiers shot 0-for-13 the rest of the way.
"I think all of those things are just a recipe for a loss especially against a team that has so many weapons," Moren said.
Indiana got off to a hot start in this one as well. The Hoosiers went up 11-0 before Ohio State scored its first basket. But turnovers allowed the Buckeyes to remain in the game and claw their way back.
Indiana finished the game with 17 turnovers, which is much higher than Moren likes from her team. Ohio State only turned it over eight times and scored 17 points off the Hoosiers' turnovers.
"We were careless with the ball at times," Grace Berger said. "That's too many turnovers."
Berger led the way for Indiana with 26 points on the night, but she missed a couple of free throws in the fourth quarter that could've cut Indiana's deficit to four.
Berger and Holmes were the only two Hoosiers to score in double figures. Patberg had nine points on 3-of-14 shooting, and Jaelynn Penn had six points on 3-of-15 shooting.
With the loss, Indiana drops to 9-4 on the season and 7-2 in the Big Ten.
The Hoosiers will have a quick turnaround when they host Michigan State on Sunday in Assembly Hall at 4 p.m. ET.
"This is a tough conference, so we know we have to bounce back and come out ready for the next one," Holmes said.