What we learned from Indiana women's basketball win over Baylor: Shay Ciezki carries the Hoosiers
Indiana women’s basketball is heading to the finals of the Battle 4 Atlantis after scoring an upset 71-65 win over No. 17 Baylor on Sunday afternoon.
The Bears (5-1; 0-0 Big 12) made a late push after trailing 66-51 with 2:29 left and cut the lead down to five points, but the Hoosiers (4-2; 0-0 Big Ten) managed to close out the victory despite not scoring a field goal in the final 3:30 of the game.
Parrish injured: Indiana women’s basketball guard Sydney Parrish suffers injury against Baylor
Indiana women’s basketball guard Shay Ciezki dominates
Shay Ciezki had the play of the game in the final minutes with IU trying to close out a win. She faked a spin move while backing Darianna Littlepage-Buggs down in the paint that opened up the lane for under-handed layup with her off hand and got Baylor’s leading scorer to foul out.
While Ciezki struggled through IU’s first five games shooting under 40% from the field and going just 3 of 14 (21.4%) from 3-point range, she looked much more comfortable on Sunday.
She rotated from running the point to playing off the ball and found her offense no matter what her role was. Baylor’s guards had a hard time slowing her down whenever she made a decisive cut to the basket.
The Penn State transfer hit a pair of 3-pointers on IU’s early 17-2 run and went 4 for 5 in the win.
Ciezki played so well that coach Teri Moren couldn’t afford to take her off the floor. The only time she subbed out was when she twisted her ankle and needed a quick breather to get checked out by trainers.
Ciezki ended up playing 39 minutes for the second straight game and had a game-high 34 points (9 of 16 shooting). She also went 12 of 13 from the free-throw line and knocked down all six of her attempts in the final 30 seconds.
Indiana women’s basketball sets the tone against Baylor in Battle 4 Atlantis
Indiana came out firing on all cylinders on Sunday afternoon.
After Baylor Aaronette Vonleh got a putback layup on her team’s opening possession, the Hoosiers went on a 17-0 run.
Indiana shot 57.1% from the field in the quarter, but weren’t able to maintain that momentum through the end of the half.
It didn’t help that IU starting guard Sydney Parrish suffered a leg injury in a collision with Kyla Abraham in the second quarter and went back to the locker room with her team leading 33-23. Parrish didn’t return to the game.
Baylor came into the game as one of the highest scoring teams in the country and opened the Battle 4 Atlantis by dropping 101 points on Southern Miss. The Bears were averaging 85.8 points per game (ranked 21st in the country) and averaging nine made 3-pointers per game.
They had six players averaging in double-digits led by Littlepage-Buggs (18.8 points per game).
While Littlepage-Buggs sat out much of the second quarter in foul trouble, Baylor still made a comeback with guard Yaya Felder knocking down four 3-pointers. The Bears closed out the half on a 7-0 run to cut IU’s lead to 37-33.
Littlepage-Buggs picked up her third foul before the midway point of the second quarter. She had five points and seven rebounds when she went to the bench. Baylor’s starting center Aaronet Vonleh also picked up two fouls in the early going.
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 win over Baylor
