BLOOMINGTON — The Indiana women’s basketball team’s defensive effort brought a smile to coach Teri Moren’s face on Wednesday night.
The No. 24 Hoosiers beat Maryville 95-27 in an exhibition at Assembly Hall. They built a 30-point lead in the first half while holding their opponent to just a single goal over a 11-minute stretch. They held the Saints to 13.6% shooting (9 of 67).
Here’s observations from IU’s lone preseason exhibition:
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Indiana forward Lilly Meister packs a punch in the paint
How is IU going to adjust to life without Mackenzie Holmes? Lilly Meister answered that question by scoring six of the team’s first eight points in the opening two minutes of the game with a series of plays reminiscent of her predecessor.
Meister led all scorers at the half with 12 points (6 of 8) and helped the Hoosiers go into halftime with a 26-2 scoring advantage on the inside. She was one of four players in double-digits with 19 points and even flashed a little shooting range when she hit a turnaround jumper from the top of the key in the fourth quarter.
Her role this season will expand in a big way after averaging only 8.5 minutes through her first two seasons with just one career start. She only scored double-digits three times during that stretch.
While she won’t have to go it alone — Tennessee transfer Karoline Striplin will have a big role in the front court — production like she had on Wednesday night will help compliment the team’s potent lineup of 3-point shooters.
Indiana women’s basketball guard Sydney Parrish leaves game early
Parrish had a double-double with 12 points (2 of 3 from 3-point range) and 13 rebounds when she left the floor 6:43 to go in the third quarter. She was shaken up in a collision with a Maryville player and was wincing in pain as her teammates helped her off the floor.
Parrish returned to the bench a few minutes later with a pair of crutches, but didn’t have any ice or brace on her knee
The injury overshadowed a strong showing for Parrish who was extremely active on the boards — the 13 rebounds would’ve been a career-high in a regular-season game — and had multiple put backs. She’s been a high volume 3-point shooter throughout her career (4.3 per game through four seasons), but she might be asked to play inside the perimeter a bit more this season.
Quick hits
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Moren has challenged Garzon to play with more “moxie” and “tenacity” and there were encouraging signs of that on Wednesday night. She led the team in scoring with 20 points and was 4 of 8 from 3-point range. While she had four turnovers, she didn’t commit a single personal foul and that was a reoccurring issue for her last year.
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Julianna LaMendola will likely have an expanded role this year and she had a strong two-way performance off the bench with seven points and 10 rebounds.
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Moren kept her rotation to just eight players until midway through the third quarter, but all 11 players who played for IU scored and nine of them had at least one field goal.
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Observations from Indiana women’s basketball team’s exhibition win over Maryville
