Holmes, Garzon lead No. 6 Indiana women past No. 2 Ohio St

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Yarden Garzon’s statline for No. 6 Indiana was plenty impressive — 20 points with four3s, plus 10 rebounds in a 78-65 win over No. 2 Ohio State.

It’s what the freshman from Israel did without the ball thatreally helped the Hoosiers on Thursday night.

With Indiana trailing by six at halftime, coach Teri Moren askedGarzon to switch over and slow down Buckeyes forward Cotie McMahon,who had already scored 18 points.

Garzon limited McMahon to three points after the break and theHoosiers, boosted by a third-quarter flurry, rallied to win.Mackenzie Holmes scored 26 for Indiana.

“Yarden got challenged in that second half, being put on Cotie,and she stepped up to the challenge and made plays and knocked downshots,” Holmes said. “Her level of maturity is something I’ve neverseen from a freshman.”

And the Hoosiers are seeing things that once seemedunimaginable.

They’ve won four straight over the Buckeyes, and their seventhwin in a row overall continued the best start in school history(19-1, 9-1 Big Ten). The Hoosiers celebrated with a raucous, recordregular-season crowd of 10,455 — it’s the second time in less thantwo weeks they’ve set an attendance record.

McMahon finished with 21 points before fouling out with aboutfive minutes to play. Taylor Mikesell had 15 and Taylor Thierry had13 points and 12 rebounds for Ohio State (19-2, 8-2), which haslost two straight since starting this week as one of only threeunbeaten Division I teams.

The Hoosiers surged in the third quarter, a game-changing 24-3run that allowed Indiana to erase a 38-32 deficit and seize controlby building a 56-41 cushion. Ohio State never fully recovered.

“It was not good, obviously, but Indiana played really wellthrough that stretch,” Buckeyes coach Kevin McGuff said. “We hadsome early shots that didn’t go in and then we had some turnoversand it just snowballed on us.”

Indiana opened the run with eight consecutive points to take thelead then made three straight 3s. It ended by convertingback-to-back Buckeyes turnovers into breakaway layups and Holmesmaking a free throw.

Ohio State’s full-court pressure had scrambling early in thefourth as it closed to 64-56 with 6:15 to play. But the Buckeyescouldn’t get any closer.

“It was a battle of two really good basketball teams and we knewit was going to be a fight,” Moren said. “We just had an incrediblethird quarter.”

BIG PICTURE

Ohio State: The Buckeyes have looked vulnerable this week,albeit against two of the nation’s top teams. While Ohio State’sconference title hopes, the Buckeyes shouldn’t fret.

Indiana: The Hoosiers have only won one Big Ten regular-seasontitle in school history, that coming in 1983. The wins over No. 13Michigan on Monday and now the Buckeyes have them within reach ofending that drought.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Ohio State: This week’s losses will probably prevent theBuckeyes from spending a third consecutive week at a school-recordtying No. 2. But this loss shouldn’t knock Ohio State out of thetop 10.

Indiana: The Hoosiers should climb back into the top five withone more win. And they’ve solidified the case to earn a potentialNo. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

MOREN’S MOMENT

Moren was honored before the game for becoming the school’scareer victories leader. She broke the mark set by the late JimIzard (188) with last week’s 83-72 victory at Illinois then addedwin No. 190 against Michigan. The crowd roared with approval as onefan held a sign that read “Pay Teri Moren.”

MIKESELL’S MILESTONE

Mikesell started her career at Maryland, left for Oregon andthen returned to her home state Buckeyes. Thursday’s game put herin the 2,000-point club. She now has 2,013 career points and needs25 to reach the 1,000-point mark in two seasons with theBuckeyes.

UP NEXT

Ohio State: Welcomes Purdue to Columbus, Ohio, on Sunday.

Indiana: Hosts Rutgers on Sunday.