Indiana and Mackenzie Holmes will host Fairfield in the first round of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament on Saturday in Bloomington, Indiana. Darron Cummings/Associated Press
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana doesn’t want a repeat of what happened on its home floor in the women’s NCAA Tournament last season.
As a No. 1 seed, the Hoosiers were upset by No. 9 seed Miami, 70-68 in the second round, and the memory still stings.
Seeded fourth this year, the Hoosiers (24-5) will have a home-court advantage again when face 13th-seeded Fairfield (31-1) in the first round on Saturday. Fifth-seeded Oklahoma (22-9) will face No. 12 Florida Gulf Coast (29-4) in the second game.
“I would say it’s definitely motivation,” Hoosiers guard Sara Scalia said of last year’s early exit. “We have a lot of the same players that came back, so they kind of know how we felt last year after we did lose to Miami. Definitely not a feeling we want to feel again this year. We got the advantage to play at home again, which we’re really grateful for. So we’ve got to take advantage of that and our home crowd.”
Indiana forward Mackenzie Holmes of Gorham said the loss a year ago has faded a bit.
“But we kind of have to put it behind us,” said Holmes, who averages a team-high 20 points as the program’s all-time leading scorer. “This is a new team this year, though we have a lot of the same players. We’re a different team, and we have a really good Fairfield team to prepare for. So that’s where our focus has been this past week.”
Hoosiers Coach Teri Moren said the Stags certainly deserve their full attention.
“The fact that they shoot … 242 more 3s than we do says a lot about who they are in terms of how they want to generate their offense,” Moren said. “I think they do a tremendous job of really trying to put pressure on you, getting to the paint (and kicking it out). They share the ball extremely well. They have a dynamic point guard in (Janelle) Brown, who was their (Metro Atlantic Athletic) Conference Player of the Year.”
Brown averages 13.6 points, hitting nearly 45% from 3-point range. Meghan Andersen leads the Stags with a 15.2 average.
The Stags have made 33.3% of their 844 3-point shots.
“I think all of them have the green light, although I think Coach (Carly Thibault-DuDonis) wants them to take great shots,” Moren said. “But they play with a lot of freedom, a lot of movement, a lot of cutting. Going to put pressure on us defensively to stay below our man, but also communicate at a very, very high level.”
Moren said the break has been good for Holmes, who didn’t play until the fourth quarter of a quarterfinal loss to Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament because of a knee injury.
FRIDAY’S GAMES
South Carolina forward Ashlyn Watkins, right, shoots over Presbyterian guard Paige Kindseth during the first half of a first-round college basketball game in the women’s NCAA Tournament in Columbia, S.C., Friday, March 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)
SOUTH CAROLINA 91, PRESBYTERIAN 39: Chloe Kitts tied her career high with 21 points on 9-of-9 shooting as No. 1 overall seed South Carolina (33-0) easily overcame the absence of starters Kamilla Cardoso and Bree Hall to beat Presbyterian (21-15) in a first-round game in Columbia, South Carolina.
Kitts also had a game-high 13 rebounds for her fifth double-double this season. Te-Hina Paopao scored 18 points and freshman MiLaysia Fulwiley had 17.
South Carolina played without Cardoso, its leading scorer, while she served a one-game suspension for her ejection from the SEC Tournament final on March 10. Hall, who started the previous 32 games, came out in street clothes on the bench. A team spokeswoman texted that Hall was out for “precautionary reasons.”
Next comes a second-round matchup Sunday with No. 8 seed North Carolina, which gave up almost all of a 16-point lead before holding on to defeat No. 9 seed Michigan State, 59-56.
LSU 70, RICE 60: Angel Reese had 10 points and 19 rebounds, and third-seeded LSU (29-5) overcame a feisty performance by No. 14 seed Rice (19-15) in a first-round game at Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Aneesah Morrow added 15 points, while Flau’Jae Johnson and Mikaylah Williams each scored 14 for the defending national champions, who had a hard time putting the away the Owls, in no small part because they committed a season-high 24 turnovers.
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