Hoosier State of Mind
Fansided

#14 Indiana Secures the Third Seed in the Big Ten Tournament with Win Against Maryland.

Sara Scalia scored 19 points and Yarden Garzon scored 17 points as the Hoosiers cruised past the Maryland Terrapins 71-54 at Assembly Hall Sunday afternoon.

By Dante Pryor

Indiana's Yarden Garzon (12) shoots over Maryland's Jakia Brown-Turner (11) during the second half of Indiana's 71-54 win against Maryland
Indiana's Yarden Garzon (12) shoots over Maryland's Jakia Brown-Turner (11) during the second half of Indiana's 71-54 win against Maryland / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY
facebooktwitterreddit

Yarden Garzon and Sara Scalia combined for 36 points against the Maryland Terrapins in #14 Indiana's 71-54 victory on Senior Day. Mackenzie Holmes had 11, while Chloe Moore-McNeil and Sydney Parrish added 10 points each. The win gave the Hoosiers a sweep over the Terps and a perfect 15-0 home record this season. It is Indiana's second consecutive undefeated home record.

The win also secured the third-seed in the Big Ten Conference Tournament. The #6 Iowa Hawkeyes locked up the second seed with a ten-point win against #2 Ohio State. Although the Hoosiers and Hawkeyes split their season series and ended with identical 15-3 conference records, Iowa owned the tiebreaker.

The tiebreaker -- ironically enough -- was Ohio State. Iowa's win against the Buckeyes gave them a split, while the Hoosiers lost its only meeting.

It was the defense that was the difference

The Hoosiers led from wire to wire in this game, and their tenacious defense made the difference. Indiana held the Terrapins to 28.4 percent shooting, including 18.8 percent from the free throw line. Maryland's leading scorer, Shyanne Sellars, scored 11 points on 13 shot attempts. Jakia Brown-Turner led the Terrapins with 15 points on 5-17 shooting.

More from Indiana Basketball:

feed

The Hoosier did have a scare with Mackenzie Holmes leaving the game with what appeared to be a leg injury after playing 23 minutes. She came out with about a minute left to go in the game to a rousing ovation from the Assembly Hall faithful. There was no noticeable limp when she participated in Senior Day activities.

Her health is key for a deep Indiana run in the Big Ten and NCAA Tournaments.

The same cannot be said about her backup Lily Meister. She landed on a Maryland player and appeared to hurt her ankle in the process.

Home/Indiana Basketball