In front of its first sold out crowd in program history, Indiana women’s basketball beat Purdue to claim at least a share of the conference title for the first time since 1983. Head coach Teri Moren was able to empty the bench to honor the graduating seniors today, building up a comfortable lead by the fourth quarter after taking just a three point lead into halftime.

As with the last matchup against Purdue, the Hoosiers pulled away in the third quarter, outscoring the Boilermakers 27-12 in the period. Purdue rightfully keyed on Mackenzie Holmes, but Teri Moren simply had too many weapons at her disposal today, getting at least 12 points from each of her starters.

The Hoosiers extended their program-best record to a whopping 26-1 (15-1) and can win the conference outright if Iowa loses to Maryland Tuesday or its season finale against Indiana. With Grace Berger in the lineup this year, Indiana is undefeated.

Senior Night

Indiana had two seniors go through their senior night festivities tonight, Grace Berger and Alyssa Geary. Each tell an important part of the story of what Moren has done at Indiana.

Berger has been a fixture in Indiana’s offense since 2019-20 when she moved into the starting lineup full-time as a sophomore and began her four year streak of averaging 30+ minutes and 12+ points per game. She will finish in the top ten in points and assists in program history at Indiana.

While Mackenzie Holmes gets most of the attention as the centerpiece of this year’s offense, Berger continues the tradition elite guard play that’s been a staple of Teri Moren’s teams since Trya Buss first came to campus in 2014.

It’ll be just about impossible to replace her, and she will go down as one of my favorite Indiana athletes of all time however this magical season ends. Considering the way Berger has simply found ways to win throughout her career at Indiana, it could have an even more special ending.

Geary transferred to Indiana after four years at Providence and averages just 2.3 points per game off the bench.

What’s interesting to me about Geary’s season is the way she’s accepted this role and apparently came to Indiana without any guarantee of playing time. She started all 30 games in her last season with the Friars, averaging 9.5 points a game, but chose to take a smaller role in Bloomington.

As one of three transfers from a power six program, Geary represents the fact that Moren has made Bloomington a destination for women’s basketball. There’s no way to replace players like Berger, but Moren appears set to continue bringing some of the most talented players in the country to Indiana.

Return of the Mack(enzie Holmes)

As significant as those seniors graduating was this weekend’s announcement that Mackenzie Holmes would be using her COVID-19 year of eligibility to return for another season with Indiana. She will be joined by Sara Scalia, who also has a year of eligibility left.

Holmes has cemented herself as an NPOY candidate, averaging 22.7 points per game, trailing only Caitlin Clark in the conference. Despite being the focal point of Purdue’s defense today, she put up an easy 20 points, going 10-11 from the field and grabbing seven rebounds.

She also gave us a glimpse of her evolving skillset, knocking down longer jumpers when Purdue was daring her to shoot. She also jumped a pass for a nice steal and went coast to coast like a guard to finish the play with a layup.

Holmes will be counted on next year to ease the transition out of the Berger era, but appears up to the task as she continues to develop on both ends of the floor. With her on the roster, Indiana will likely be among the favorites to win the conference again next year.

History

It feels like every time this team takes the court, multiple records are broken. Teri Moren continues to add to the best record in program history and figures to grab the first No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament in program history when it’s all said and done.

The Hoosiers also set yet another attendance record today, which seems like the third or fourth time this year alone that they’ve attracted a record-breaking crowd. This trend has extended to television viewership as well, with each game bringing Indiana more firmly into the national spotlight.

Berger’s senior night made this a celebration of one of the most historically significant individual careers, but it was also a welcome-back ceremony for the 1983 Big Ten championship team. Until today, this was the only regular season conference title in program history.

Cutting down the nets at the end of the game was a fitting celebration for all that this group has accomplished together this season, as well as an affirmation of Moren’s role in this program historically. She’s been basically rewriting Indiana record books for the last four seasons now and deserves all the recognition and credit possible for making this team what it is.