IU women’s basketball takes a step back against North Carolina – The Daily Hoosier

After generating positive momentum after a difficult start, Indiana women’s basketball took a big step back.

In the opening game of Battle 4 Atlantis, Indiana defeated Columbia, ranked 55th in Bart Torvik’s T-Rank. Then the Hoosiers beat No. 18 Baylor on Sunday, their second ranked win in eight days. But they ran out of fuel in Monday’s championship game. IU completely collapsed in the second half against No. 16 North Carolina as the Tar Heels ran away with a 69-39 victory.

IU (4-3) shot 29 percent from the field and 21 percent in the second half. The Hoosiers went 0 for 13 from 3-point range after halftime, making them 4 for 26 on the day. They also had a total of just seven assists and 16 turnovers. North Carolina (6-1) held Indiana to just seven points in the third quarter and six points in the fourth, and the Tar Heels went 11-for-23 from 3-point range.

Chloe Moore-McNeil took the blame for the team’s poor performance, although it wasn’t all her fault. She finished the game with eight points – second on IU behind only Yarden Garzon (10 points) – as well as three rebounds, three assists, one block, one steal and one turnover.

“Baylor was a great team, Columbia was a great team. And then the hype comes and we’re ready for North Carolina, and then it’s just… we weren’t today. That wasn’t us at all,” Moore-McNeil said after the game. “And I take full responsibility as one of our leaders because I can’t let that happen and the coaches can attack us all they want, cheer us on and make sure we stay positive, but in the end… “Today it’s up to us players to bring it together.”

Three games in three days is a challenge for any program, and Indiana won’t see that again for the rest of the season. But the overall performance in this game, after losing Sydney Parrish to injury on Sunday, has resurfaced some of the concerns it had shown through the first two weeks of the season.

The Hoosiers struggled to keep up with North Carolina’s physicality, which became a problem during the Brown, Harvard and Butler games. Lilly Meister (1 for 7 shooting, two points, three rebounds) was particularly ineffective, and Shay Ciezki (2 for 8, 1 for 5 3-pointers, five points) cooled off after her 34-point explosion against Baylor.

“Today we just didn’t have the urgency we needed for 40 minutes and that was disappointing,” IU head coach Moren said. “But a lesson learned. I think our kids, we all agree that this wasn’t our best 40 minutes, but we have to respond as soon as we get back to Bloomington and get ready for the next opponent.”

Sophomore Jules LaMendola stepped into the starting lineup in Parrish’s place and was one of IU’s better players overall. The winger grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds and six points on 2 of 8 shooting, and she was one of two Indiana rotation players who didn’t commit a turnover.

The Hoosiers have made positive progress in their first two games in the Bahamas. Ciezki’s tremendous performance against Baylor must boost her confidence after enduring a difficult start to the season. Lexus Bargesser saw her first game action, playing 10 minutes against Columbia, 26 against Baylor and 14 against UNC. And both wins — along with the win over Stanford before this event — will help offset the losses of Harvard and Brown on IU’s resume.

But Parrish’s injury puts Indiana’s long-term prospects in doubt again, especially with the graduate student out for an extended period of time.

Moren isn’t sure how long Parrish will be out – the show won’t know more until she returns to Bloomington. And for a team that struggled to break through early in the season, this presented another obstacle to adapt to. And even though it’s just one game under unusual circumstances, the Hoosiers struggled to make it happen on Monday.

And regardless of Parrish’s status, it’s clear that the Hoosiers still have weaknesses that need to be addressed.

“It will be another adjustment period because we don’t know how long Syd will be out. “But we need to get back to Bloomington and start figuring out how to move our pieces and how to put a five on the floor that hopefully comes together quicker than we have,” Moren said. “I thought we made some improvements, we grew a little bit here in the Bahamas, it’s just a shame Syd went down in the Baylor game yesterday.”

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