'A lot of different weapons': IU women's basketball shows versatility, dominance over UNC

BLOOMINGTON — The absence of Grace Berger has and will continue to hang over the collective head of IU women’s basketball until the guard is back on the court. Coach Teri Moren has been asked about the Hoosiers’ emotional leader at every availability since Berger went down with a knee injury Nov. 25.

Players like Mackenzie Holmes have spoken of stepping up, both physically and mentally, without the fifth-year graduate student who is out "indefinitely."

There’s no replacing a player of Berger’s caliber, but against No. 6 North Carolina, IU flexed its muscle and flashed a level of firepower that showed it could survive, if not thrive, without her for the time being. Every starter scored at least 9 points Thursday. All did it within their skill sets and the flow of the game as the undefeated fourth-ranked Hoosiers demonstrated just how many different ways they can beat a team in the 87-63 win.

3 reasons IU women beat UNC: Sydney Parrish steps up, produces with the starters

“This group is special because of the firepower that we do have,” Moren said. “Now, will it show up every night? Maybe not. But what will show up every night is gonna be our defense and our ability to rebound and our toughness. That’s where it starts, but our chemistry has come together nicely and quickly, probably quicker than I thought it could. We have a lot of veterans. We have a lot of maturity out there. We have a lot of wisdom out there, a lot of kids that have played in big-time games. Tonight was no different.”

IU made its first six attempts from 3-point range and finished 12-for-22 from deep. Two of senior Sara Scalia’s four triples were catch-and-shoot looks with no hesitation from well behind the line. Yarden Garzon also hit two treys and is making them at a 54% clip for the season, but has the ability to attack the basket to keep defenders from closing out too hard.

Even if that level of proficiency from deep isn’t sustainable, it opens up the paint for Holmes. She dominated down low and posted her fourth straight 20-point game.

Instead of moving a guard into the unit with Berger out, Moren went to Sydney Parrish, who plays stretch power forward as the other guards pick up the ball handling and facilitating slack.

What could be an issue for Indiana as the season progresses is depth. The starters regularly play more than 35 minutes per game. While Berger’s injury hasn’t yet affected any final scores, it does force the playing time to be distributed more tightly. Henna Sandvik was the only Hoosier who played more than six minutes off the bench against UNC.

But through development, hitting the transfer portal and landing a unicorn of a freshman in Garzon, Moren has formed a starting five that can withstand an injury, or even someone having a bad game.

“We know that that’s hopefully what will continue make us difficult to guard is that we have a lot of different weapons, different ways we can score the ball,” Moren said. “But also from the first eight games, we got some balance.”

Garzon is the only underclassman of the five. Chloe Moore-McNeil and Parrish are juniors; Scalia and Holmes are seniors. It makes for a group that knows what it is, what each individual has to do and what it takes to win games in the Big Ten.

Minutes after blowing the doors off of the No. 6 team in the nation, Parrish brushed aside that the win was a statement. It was a win the veteran core expected, one it knew it was capable of if everyone did what she has demonstrated she’s capable of doing.

“I don’t think it was exactly a statement,” Parrish said. “I think we just played how we play, and we come out every game hard and really prepared from our coaching staff. We just came out and played hard. It’s not really a statement for us. We should play like that every night.”

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IU women's basketball vs. UNC: Starters propel Hoosiers to top-10 win