BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Sara Scali scored 19 points, Yarden Garzon added 17 and No. 14 Indiana closed the regular season with a 71-54 win over Maryland on Sunday to improve to 15-0 at home.
The Hoosiers tied sixth-ranked Iowa for second in the Big Ten Conference, one game behind No. 2 Ohio State, but will go into the tournament as the third seed. The tournament starts Wednesday in Minneapolis but the top four seeds have a double-bye into Friday’s quarterfinals.
Maryland, the No. 7 seed, doesn’t play until Thursday against 10th-seeded Wisconsin.
Mackenzie Holmes had 11 points for Indiana (24-4, 15-3) and Sydney Parrish and Chloe Moore-McNeil added 10 each. Scalia had eight rebounds, Moore-McNeil had eight assists and Parrish, who started her career at Oregon, surpassed 1,000 points for her career.
Jakia Brown-Turner had 15 points and 13 rebounds for Maryland (17-12, 9-9), Bri McDaniel added 13 points and Shyann Cellers 11.
Garzon and Scalia both went 4 of 8 from 3-point range but the Hoosiers, who lead the country at 41.1%, were just 8 of 24 from long range. Their 44.2% overall shooting (23 of 52) is also below their leading 51.8%.
A sharp-shooting first half was enough to carry Indiana.
Indiana never trailed but in an unusual first quarter the teams had consecutive 12-0 runs. Holmes and Scalia had three-point plays and Garzon two 3-pointers to give the Hoosiers a 16-2 lead. Brown-Turner had two 3s to help bring the Terps within 16-14.
Scalia answered with a 3 and Holmes had a layup to put Indiana on top 21-14 after one quarter.
Indiana led 39-24 at halftime, thanks to a 15-0 run that included two layups by Holmes, followed by two 3s for Garzon and Scalia’s 3-pointer that made it 36-15.
Indian shot 54% (15 of 28) with seven 3s in the half, while Maryland was 2 of 11 behind the arc and shot 29% overall (10 of 35).
A basket by Holmes gave Indiana a 50-31 lead midway through third quarter but late in the quarter she limped off the court and went to the locker room. The Hoosiers’ all-time leading scorer returned to the bench with about a minute left in the Senior Day game and walked without a limp during the postgame celebration.
Indiana lost Holmes’ replacement Lilly Meister when she landed on a Maryland player and hurt her foot with about 3 1/2 minutes to play. Seconds later McDaniel hit a 3-pointer that had the Terrapins within 13 but they never got closer.
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