Indiana Women's Basketball Wins Third Straight with Rutgers Rout

Indiana women's basketball won its third straight game, this time in dominant fashion at home against Rutgers. After jumping out to a 14-5 lead in the first quarter, the Hoosiers only allowed the Scarlet Knights within five points once in the rest of the game. 

Teri Moren's group started red-hot from 3-point range, opening the game with a pair of makes from Sydney Parrish and Chloe Moore-McNeil. Parrish in particular came out aggressive, scoring seven of her 22 points in the opening 10 minutes of play. 

Following Parrish's lead, Indiana stayed hot from deep, shooting a whopping 15-28 (54%) from 3-point range. Parrish, who is only shooting 33.3% on the season, went 4-7 and helped lift the team offense to one of the strongest shooting performances of the season. 

With three straight wins, Indiana is back in the upper half of the Big Ten standings at 7-4, but still solidly behind UCLA (10-0) and USC (10-1). 

Indiana won't see either of those teams for a revenge game in the regular season, but will have chance to make up ground in the conference with games upcoming against no. 8 Ohio State, no. 20 Michigan State, and no. 16 Maryland. All three teams are currently ahead of Indiana in the standings. 

While Indiana's last three games haven't been against the Big Ten's best, the Hoosiers have managed to win the last two convincingly. Last Sunday, Moren's group was able to post a 16-point victory against a Nebraska team that also has a winning record in Big Ten play. 

Aside from the 3-point shooting, Indiana was able to dominate last night because it got such strong play from all four of the team's top guards. Shay Ciezki had 16 points and Yarden Garzon added 14 points to Moore-McNeil's 12 and Parrish's team-high 22.

Even if the shooting won't always be there like it was last night, this could be the blueprint to continued success for an Indiana team that's struggled to get consistent interior scoring. The trend continued last night with Karoline Striplin scoring just six points in 23 minutes while Lily Meister was held completely scoreless. 

As the home-state player with the most college experience under her belt, Parrish might be the best bet to lead the way for an Indiana team with plenty of important basketball left to be played. If she can continue producing like she did last night, Indiana may be set for another deep run in the Big Ten and NCAA Tournaments.