Parrish Leads Indiana Women's Basketball to NCAA Tournament First-Round Win Over Tennessee Tech

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — One-seed Indiana women's basketball cruised to a 77-47 victory over 16-seed Tennessee Tech in the first round of the NCAA Women's Tournament on Saturday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

"We obviously went into this game with a tremendous amount of respect for them after watching them the other night," Indiana head coach Teri Moren said. "I thought...it took us a good quarter to sort of get our legs underneath us, which I anticipated just because we've had about 12 days off." 

However, the Hoosiers lost a major part of their team as senior forward Mackenzie Holmes sat out the whole game due to knee soreness. The program stated she would be available in Saturday's game but would not be starting. Freshman forward Lilly Meister, who finished with seven points and three blocks, earned her first career start in Holmes's place.

"The whole season my role has been different every game," Meister said. "This afternoon was just another example of that, and it's a little nerve wracking, but this is the best atmosphere ever. It's March Madness, packed Assembly Hall."

As for Holmes, her practice schedule was limited throughout the week, but the return on Monday is looking good.

"Available if needed, and then very optimistic, feel really good about her Monday," Moren said.

In the mean time, Indiana rallied for their teammate as junior guard Sydney Parrish led the pack with 19 points and eight rebounds followed by graduate student guard Grace Berger's 17 points and seven boards."

"It's the NCAA tournament, so it's win or go home," Berger said. "There's really no reason for any of us not to have a sense of urgency moving forward. We're on the biggest stage that's where we belong...There's no reason not to be excited for every possession."

As a unit, the Hoosiers shot 58 percent from the field and out-rebounded the Golden Eagles 38-33. Tennessee Tech shot 28 percent from the floor and only got to the charity stripe six times for three points.

In the first quarter, Indiana started off hot as the Hoosiers led 13-11 and went 5-for-5 from the field for a stretch. Berger totaled five points with under six minutes to go.

The Golden Eagles hit a three to tie it up at 14 to make up for a small early deficit. Then Tennessee Tech went 1-for-7 from the field but ended that drought with a jumper one step away from being a three-pointer.

Indiana entered a dip of its own after more than two minutes of missed threes allowed the Golden Eagles to take the lead with less than a minute left in the first frame. Berger made 1-of-2 free throws to tie it up 18-18 at the buzzer.

"They were hot from three coming into the game, and they were plenty capable of doing it, and that was a strength of theirs, and we came out and I thought gave them a couple easy ones from three, so I think that was disappointing for all of us that we didn't come out ready in that sense," Berger said. 

In the second quarter, Indiana's defense started to kick in as it forced a shot clock violation for the Golden Eagles. Tennessee Tech got the first bucket of the quarter with just over seven minutes to go in the half, but the Hoosiers would soon light up.

Meister made her presence known in the post with a layup while freshman guard Lexus Bargesser made two consecutive layups as part of a 15-0 Hoosier run.

Meanwhile, Tennessee Tech went through more than a three-minute scoring drought as freshman guard Yarden Garzon got the Hall loud with her first three of the game.

On an offensive streak, junior guard Chloe Moore-McNeil hit a full-court layup off of Berger's assist with less than a minute to play. Indiana finished the half up 39-27.

To start off the second half, Garzon hit her second three causing Tennessee Tech to burn a timeout. The Golden Eagles managed to stay in it swishing a layup to cut the deficit to 13 points.

The Hoosiers didn't score from the field for four minutes until Parrish went in for the layup nearing the end of the third frame.

"I was not happy, especially in the third," Moren said, "I thought we made some bad decisions, some shot selections that were not good inside of our offense."

The fourth quarter was all Hoosiers as Moore-McNeil swished a three for the 20-point lead. With three minutes to go, it was the bench players maintaining the lead as Indiana cruised past the Golden Eagles and will face the winner of the Oklahoma State and Miami game to follow on Monday.

"The one thing that we have had all year is the experience of having a target on our back," Moren said. "I think knowing that we're the hunted, we've handled ourselves knowing that and with that, you're going to get everybody's best shot and our kids realize that this is a veteran group." 

Related stories on Indiana women's basketball

• MACKENZIE HOLMES WILL NOT START IN NCAA FIRST ROUND Indiana women's basketball forward Mackenzie Holmes will not start in Saturday's NCAA Tournament first round matchup versus Tennessee Tech due to knee soreness. CLICK HERE
• HOW TO WATCH TENNESSEE TECH VS. INDIANA The one-seeded Indiana women's basketball team will face the 16-seed Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Saturday. Here's how to watch and the match details. CLICK HERE
• INDIANA WANTS THE BANNER Indiana women's basketball will begin NCAA Tournament play on Saturday versus Tennessee Tech. The Hoosiers haven't been shy about wanting a banner as the team gears up to host the first and second rounds in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall to jumpstart a hopeful deep run. CLICK HERE