Sara Scalia Comes Alive in Second Half As Indiana Routes Fairfield, 89-56

No. 4 Hoosiers Advance To Second Round Monday at Assembly Hall as Sara Scalia Scores 27 Points.

Indiana Hoosiers guard Sara Scalia (14) celebrates after making a three-pointer during the NCAA / Bobby Goddin/Herald-Times / USA TODAY

BLOOMINGTON, Ind – Indiana women’s basketball won the clash of 3-pointers Saturday.

The No. 4 seeded Hoosiers entered the first round of the NCAA Tournament as the best 3-point shooting team in the nation, and No. 13 Fairfield had taken the 15th most 3-pointers. That pattern held true after a close first half, as Fairfield shot more 3-pointers in the second half but Indiana made more of theirs and pulled away to easily win, 89-56.

Indiana (25-5) advances to the second round and plays the winner of No. 12-seed Florida Gulf Coast and No. 5 Oklahoma Monday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The winner of that game will advance to the Sweet 16 in Albany, N.Y.

Indiana’s Sara Scalia led all scorers Saturday with 27 points, including four 3-pointers in the second half. Mackenzie Holmes, Yarden Garzon, and Chloe Moore-McNeil scored 13 points each.

After a slow start, Indiana went on a 14-5 run at the end of the second quarter to lead by four at the half.  

“We were off for two weeks as far as playing a competitive game like that,” Scalia said. “We had to get our feet under ourselves there for a little bit in the first half. That was the biggest thing, and we obviously played really well in the second half. Our second half was really good to us.” 

Fairfield, which lost only one game in the regular season, hit three straight 3-pointers in the third quarter. But the Hoosiers went on a 13-0 run to lead by 16 with four minutes left in the quarter, a run that ended with a Scalia 3-pointer and a timeout by Fairfield. As the crowd roared, Scalia raised her arms and shouted to her teammates. Holmes joined in and smacked the sideline boards. 

“You could tell, [Mackenizie] was in here early this morning, getting extra shots up, that she has anticipated this day,” Indiana head coach Teri Moren said Saturday. “I think that anytime her teammates see her getting excited, getting fired up, in those timeouts, I think that they all get excited with her, because they understand and realize how much it means to Mack.” 

Indiana went 7-for-14 beyond the arc in the second half while Fairfield went 5-for-17. Fairfield’s leading scorer, senior Janelle Brown, opened Saturday’s game with five consecutive made shots, but the Hoosiers shut her down in the second half. Brown, who finished with 19 points, said Indiana took away her right hand, and the atmosphere in Assembly Hall made communication difficult. The Hoosiers outscored Fairfield 25-7 in the fourth quarter.

Indiana also controlled the inside, blocking 10 Fairfield shots, outrebounding the Stags 44-29 and forcing them to keep firing 3-pointers as they fell further behind. The Hoosiers snapped Fairfield’s 29-game winning streak.