BLOOMINGTON, Indiana – Mackenzie Holmes scored 22 points, Sydney Parrish sank the go-ahead 3-pointer and No. 4 Indiana bounced back from its first loss with a 74-62 overtime victory over Nebraska.
Indiana outscored Nebraska 12-0 in OT after the Cornhuskers’ Jaz Shelley missed a potential game-winning jumper in the final seconds of regulation.
“We’re built for moments like those,” Holmes said according to AP. “We always have been. We take a lot of pride in being the better-conditioned team when the game gets going down the stretch in the fourth quarter and even overtime situations. We take a lot of pride in being able to shift into that extra gear.”
Holmes made 8 of 14 shots, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked five shots. “Give Nebraska credit, that’s a really good basketball team,” Indiana coach Teri Moren said.
“I have a feeling that a lot of our Big Ten games this year are going to be like that. There’s just a lot of talent, from top to bottom.”
The final lead change came with 3:57 remaining, when Parrish hit her third 3. The rest of the Hoosiers were 1 for 13 from beyond the arc.
“As a shooter, you go through slumps,” Parrish said. “In the fourth quarter, I airballed one and Coach Moren said to just keep shooting, keep shooting. Knowing she has that confidence in me gives me the confidence to keep shooting the ball.”
Parrish finished with 16 points. Chloe Moore-McNeil added 13, including 7 of 8 at the free-throw line.
Isabelle Bourne led the Cornhuskers with 15 points.
“We said it was going to take 40 minutes,” Nebraska coach Amy Williams said. “It actually was going to take 45 minutes, and that last 5 minutes we didn’t keep our same defensive focus that we had up to that point.”
The Cornhuskers also didn’t get to the line. Indiana made 24 of 30 free throws. Nebraska sank just 5 of 9.
“Obviously today, I thought the game was lost at the free throw line,” Williams said.
Both teams were coming off losses – Indiana committed 21 turnovers in an 83-78 loss at Michigan State on Thursday while Nebraska was blown out 76-59 at home by No. 14 Michigan on Wednesday. The Hoosiers took better care of the basketball this time, having just 13 turnovers, but aside from Holmes they struggled to make shots.
“We are four games into the Big Ten and we can’t take anyone for granted,” Holmes said. “Every win is important, especially with the strength of the conference this year. We just have to work a little bit harder because we know every night is going to be a battle.”
Nebraska led by as many as seven points early. Indiana didn’t take its first lead until 4:39 remained in the second quarter. The Hoosiers led 31-30 at halftime despite shooting just 33 per cent and missing 8 of 9 3-point shots.
“We didn’t shoot it well, I know that,” Moren said. “But we hit the shots we needed to hit in overtime.”
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