BLOOMINGTON — The Indiana women’s basketball team didn’t have its sharpest outing of the season on Wednesday night at the Kohl Center, but still managed to close out a 10th straight win over Wisconsin that was relatively drama free.
The Hoosiers got a game-high 24 points from Mackenzie Holmes while Sara Scalia (15 points) and Chloe Moore-McNeil (12 points) combined for seven 3-pointers in the 68-54 win. Moore-McNeil is 9 of 9 from 3-point range over the past two games.
No. 14 Indiana (20-3; 11-2 Big Ten) led by as many 20 points in the fourth quarter. Wisconsin (11-11; 4-8) allowed 29 points off 19 turnovers.
More: Mackenzie Holmes breaks Indiana women’s basketball scoring record
Another Indiana women’s basketball record falls
Scalia broke Amanda Cahill’s single-season 3-point record (78) on Wednesday night. It came on the heels of Holmes breaking the program’s career scoring record.
They combined for 3-pointers on three consecutive possessions in the opening minutes. Holmes started the streak off with just her second made 3-pointer of the season and Scalia hit the other two. The early scoring outburst gave Scalia multiple 3-pointers in eight straight games, the third longest such streak of her career and the longest with the Hoosiers.
Scalia tied Cahill’s record with 4:52 to go in the second quarter as Indiana opened up a 31-23 lead. She broke the record with her fourth 3-pointer of the game with 35 seconds to go in the third quarter.
Indiana women’s basketball quiets the Kohl Center
Indiana had a 20-19 lead at the end of the first quarter despite not scoring a field goal in the final four minutes of the quarter. Yarden Garzon and Julia Lamendola each picked up two fouls in the quarter.
The game didn’t stay that close for very long.
Wisconsin was outscored 21-6 in the second quarter while going 3 of 11 (27.3%) from the field and turning it over seven times. The Badgers had a pair of lengthy scoring droughts (4:12 and 2:40) with Indiana closing out the half on a 16-2 run.
Indiana women’s basketball has least productive quarter of the season
Indiana women’s basketball lost all the momentum it built up going into halftime by scoring seven points in the second quarter. They went 3 of 13 from the floor (1 of 6 from 3-point range) with that lone 3-pointer coming with just 35 seconds left on the clock.
It was fewest points all season in a quarter for an IU team that’s averaging 81.5 points per game this season (No. 12 in the country), and only the third time this season the team scored less than 10 points in a quarter. The Hoosiers had nine points in the first quarter against Rutgers and nine points in the fourth quarter against Iowa.
Wisconsin made five straight shots to start the quarter and had the ball within six points multiple times, but struggled again with turnovers (five) down the stretch.
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: No. 14 Indiana women’s basketball breezes past Wisconsin
