On Saturday, the No.1 seed Indiana Women’s basketball team cruised to thirty point victory over the No. 16 seed Tennessee Tech in its first-round game of the NCAA tournament at Simon Skjdot Assembly Hall in front of 14,000 fans in Bloomington, Indiana.
The Hoosiers got off to a slow start on Saturday with All-American forward Mackenzie Holmes sitting out the game nursing a knee injury she suffered in the Big Ten tournament.
In Holmes’s absence, freshman forward Lilly Meister and senior forward Alyssa Geary slipt time filling in for Mackenzie. Meister finished the game with seven points and four rebounds in 20 mins. Geary had three points, three rebounds, and two assists in 17 mins.
The Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles started the game hot, hitting their first four 3-point attempts. The Golden Eagles came into the tournament with an eight-game winning streak and finished the first quarter tied with Indiana with eighteen a piece. Maaliya Owens led the Golden Eagles with 17 points on five three-pointers. In comparison, Indiana started cold from deep, only making one for six in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Indiana’s defense stepped up, which led to many fast break opportunities for Indiana as they took control of the game, outscoring Tennessee Tech 21 – 9 in the second to take a 12-point advantage into halftime 39-27.
Indiana finished the game with three double-digit starters: Sydney Parrish’s 19 points, Grace Berger’s 17, and Yarden Garzon’s 12 points.
The Hoosiers kept rolling into the fourth, allowing head coach Teri Moren to sit Grace Berger to sit with 6:25 left in the game.
In the second game of the opening round in Bloomington, No. 8 Oklahoma State jumped out to 17 point half time lead over No. 9 Miami.
Oklahoma started off shooting 52 percent in the first half as they built their commanding halftime lead.
Oklahoma’s leading scorer Anna Gret Asi came off the bench with 16 points on 4 of 6 from the 3-point line. While guard Naomie Alnatas poured in ten points, Lexy Keys, Clarie Chastin, and Lior Garzon, sister of Indiana’s Yarden Garzon, all had eight points for the Cowgirls.
Miami’s coming-from-behind victory was led by their senior guard Haley Cavinder who scored twelve of her sixteen points in the second half. In the second half, Miami outscored Oklahoma 42 to 24 to pull off the one-point victory 62-61.
The incredible coming-from-behind win for Miami sets up both the Indiana women and men to face the University of Miami in their next NCAA tournament rounds. The Indiana women play Miami on Monday with a 8 pm tipoff on ESPN.
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