Fresh off a loss to #10 Iowa State in the Geico Coconut Hoops Championship Game, the Hoosiers returned to Assembly Hall to face Western Michigan. Indiana showed some fatigue in the first half before pulling away with a big second half to win 71-53.
For Indiana, this is their second straight game without their star center, Zania “Big Z” Socka-Nguemen, who is out with a lower body injury. Big Z’s absence was felt early as the Hoosiers struggled to defend the paint, allowing the Broncos to build an early 9-2 lead. Compounding the Hoosiers’ problems were some early fouls, which allowed Western Michigan to get into the Bonus in the first quarter. By the end of the quarter Indiana found themselves trailing 20-15.
To the Hoosiers’ credit, they did not hang their heads when facing this deficit but rather banded together and slowly chipped away at the Bronco lead. Halfway through the second quarter, the Hoosiers caught fire on both sides of the ball, going on a 10-0 run to head into halftime leading 35-31.
This run was sparked by the scoring efforts of Lenée Beaumont and Shay Ciezki. Beaumont, who is making her return to the Indiana lineup after missing the entirety of last season with a knee injury, ended the first half with 10 points, while Shay Ciezki continued to shine as a scorer, ending the half as Indiana’s leading scorer with 15 points.
Speaking to the media after the game, Ciezki said, “There wasn’t too much said [at halftime], just the simple things: we’ve got to work harder, we’ve got to want it more, we’ve got to rebound, all the intangibles that we’ve got to do better.” Ciezki and the Hoosiers definitely worked harder in the second half; as Indiana began to pull away from the Broncos, Ciezki finished the game with 26 points as the Hoosiers beat Western Michigan 71-53.
“It wasn’t our best showing, but just glad we got the win and just survive and advance…It was a tough game; we had one day of prep, so [we’ve] just got to look forward to the Big Ten now.” Ciezki said after the game.
The Hoosiers will open Big Ten play on Saturday as they make the trip to Illinois to face the Fighting Illini. When asked what they need to do to get the win in Champaign on Saturday, Ciezki said, “Just the intangibles. We’ve got to make sure we’re executing on offense, knowing our plays, knowing our scout[ing report], but we’ll be ready.”
For the Hoosiers, they move to 8-1 on the season, which is their best start to the season since 2023-2024, when they advanced all the way to the Sweet Sixteen.