INDIANAPOLIS — The IU women’s basketball team went quiet down the stretch at Hinkle Fieldhouse in a 56-46 loss to Butler.
The Hoosiers (1-2) dropped consecutive games for the first time since 2021-22 when it played Iowa twice in a three-day span and lost to Maryland. The program hadn’t lost back-to-back nonconference games since losing to Kentucky and Tennessee in 2020.
Indiana’s offense was non-existent throughout the game and the fourth quarter was no exception. They turned it over twice in the final 90 seconds and didn’t score a point for five-plus minutes down the stretch. The Hoosiers only scored 18 points in the second half on 8-of-27 shooting (29.6%).
It wasn’t much of a road environment either.
Indiana had plenty of fans in attendance with one side of the lower bowl at the venue completely filled with fans wearing crimson and cream. Butler announced a new Hinkle Fieldhouse attendance record of 4,315 fans for a women’s basketball game.
IU women’s basketball has nightmarish third quarter
IU’s struggles became more pronounced in the third quarter.
The Hoosiers had scoring droughts that combined for just shy of eight minutes — one was five minutes and the other was nearly three minutes — and finished the quarter with more turnovers (six) than field goals (four).
Butler took a 41-37 lead with a modest 6-0 run with two of their baskets coming off IU turnovers.
The Hoosiers were lost at sea as their trio of veteran returning starters (Yarden Garzon, Sydney Parrish and Chloe Moore-McNeil) combined to go 1-of-4 in the quarter and were extremely passive at the perimeter. Teri Moren’s bench hasn’t given her much production in the early going and Wednesday night was no different.
Butler’s reserves had a 24-7 scoring advantage.
IU women’s basketball takes a long walk to nowhere
Butler went four-plus minutes without any points in the first quarter, but Indiana didn’t benefit from the prolonged scoring drought. The Hoosiers had their own fair share of struggles as it shot 3-of-12 in the quarter and turned it over five times.
They continue to turn the ball over at an alarming rate, and the sloppy play is a team-wide issue.
There was an offensive foul by Moore-McNeil where she just extended her arm into a shove right in front of an official, a three-second violation by Lilly Meister and a series of bad passes.
In the second quarter, IU wasted another opportunity when it turned it over on three consecutive possessions while holding Butler without a field goal. The Hoosiers were called for a shot clock violation where no one on the court communicated the clock was ticking down.
The ugliest turnover of the half came with 54 seconds to go in the second quarter when Shay Ciezki stopped after crossing the half court and just took an extra two steps.
She handed the ball to the official in disbelief.
Indiana is averaging 22.5 turnovers through its first two games and the 26 turnovers it had against Harvard last week were the second most of Moren’s tenure.
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 Indianapolis Star: IUWBB rough start to season continues with ugly loss to Butler
