IU women's basketball beats Illinois in Big Ten opener

Scott Horner, Indianapolis Star
·2 min read

It took everything IU women's basketball had to hold off Makira Cook and Illinois in the Big Ten opener for both teams.

The No. 5 Hoosiers (9-0) beat Illinois 65-61 Sunday afternoon as Mackenzie Holmes had 23 points, six rebounds and four blocked shots. Chloe Moore-McNeil added 13 points and Sydney Parris 12 points, 10 rebounds and four steals.

Cook accounted for more than half of Illinois' offense with 33 points. She made 12-of-25 shots from the field, including 3-of-4 3-pointers, and 6-of-6 free throws. Adalia McKenzie had nine points and 11 rebounds, and Kendall Bostic (Northwestern High School) had eight points and 14 rebounds.

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The Hoosiers were coming off a blowout victory over No. 6 North Carolina. Against Illinois, the Hoosiers shot 41.9% from the field, 29.4% on 3-pointers and were outrebounded by seven.

"They can’t all be like the North Carolina nights where everything goes in for us. We have to find different ways to score the ball, but also you just have to get grimy," coach Teri Moren said postgame. "You hope that your grit shows up and that you can make just enough plays to win the game."

The winning margin was the largest lead by either team in the fourth quarter. The Hoosiers scored the final five points, and Holmes' layup with 37 seconds remaining gave them the lead for good at 62-61.

Illinois (7-2) briefly took a lead by scoring the first four points of the third period, but IU held it scoreless for 6 minutes to gain a 45-38 edge. Cook single-handedly kept the Illini in it, scoring the last six points of the quarter to make it 45-44 heading to the fourth.

Indiana surged with an early inside-out game. Moore-McNeil hit her first two 3-point attempts and Holmes got going inside as the Hoosiers led 19-5 just 7 minutes in.

Cook's 3-pointer with 7:25 left in the second quarter narrowed IU's lead to 25-20, but IU extended it 33-24 on a Holmes layup with 3:51 to go.

Illinois outscored IU 8-1 the rest of the half, and Cook's 3-pointer with 10 seconds left made it 34-32 Indiana. Cook and Holmes each had 13 points at halftime.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IU women's basketball beats Illinois in Big Ten opener