Indiana’s Mackenzie Holmes, of Gorham, celebrates after the Hoosiers’ beat Purdue to clinch at least a share of the Big Ten regular-season title on Sunday in Bloomington, Indiana. Darron Cummings/Associated Press
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana’s celebration began hours before tipoff Sunday as throngs of students and fans gathered outside Assembly Hall.
Inside, the party continued as the program’s first home sellout crowd finally watched a long-awaited net-cutting ceremony. It could be just the start for the Hoosiers.
Mackenzie Holmes, of Gorham, scored 20 points, Grace Berger added 14 points and 10 assists and No. 2 Indiana routed Purdue 83-60 to clinch a share of its first Big Ten regular-season championship since 1982-83, the first season of league play.
Indiana has never won an outright title – yet – but players and coaches basked in the moment as they collected the trophy with music blaring in the background.
“I was just so focused on the game, I didn’t even realize when I came out that we had won the championship,” Berger said. “I think Mackenzie told me. Once I realized it, it was really special.”
The scene was yet another significant step Indiana’s nine-year ascent under Coach Teri Moren.
Indiana (26-1, 16-1) already has broken the single-season school record and now, with 14 straight victories, it’s also tied the second-longest streak in school history. They’ve won 18 consecutive home games and Moren, who became the Hoosiers’ career wins leader earlier this season, is two wins away from No. 200 with the Hoosiers and three away from No. 400 overall.
But what Sunday revealed most about these Hoosiers (26-1, 16-1) is that they’ve done more than win games.
On the day they honored the 40th anniversary of the only other women’s regular-season championship team, Indiana also played in front of a fourth record crowd this season, 17,222. And they did it the pep band blaring, with fans repeatedly bouncing up and down, wearing players’ numbers and a deafening roar as the final seconds ticked off the clock.
The combination doomed Purdue’s party-crashing hopes.
Lasha Petree scored 23 points and joined the 2,000-point club. Abbey Ellis added 12 for the Boilermakers (17-8, 8-7). It wasn’t nearly enough to avoid a ninth consecutive loss in this rivalry and second-year coach Katie Gearlds is looking to the Hoosiers as a model for her own program.
“Teri, in nine years, what she’s done here has been remarkable, something we’d like to duplicate in West Lafayette,” the second-year coach said. “We understand it’s going to take some time, but huge congrats to Indiana today.”
The Boilermakers still made it tough on Indiana.
They closed the first half on a 7-0 run to cut a 10-point deficit to 37-34 and were still down five early in the second half.
Then Berger and Holmes combined for six straight points and Chloe Moore-McNeil added a midrange jumper to make it 52-39 with 4:19 left in the third quarter.
Purdue threatened to keep it close by answering with five straight only to give all those points backs back on one play — with Moore-McNeil making a 3-pointer and a foul called as the ball went through the net. Sydney Parrish hit both throws to give Indiana a 60-44 with 1:15 left in the third quarter and the only lingering question was long the postgame celebration would last.
“We knew this was going to be another test, another challenge but there was this mindset of if we can do it in front of our home crowd what a great moment that would be,” Moren said after twirling the net toward the crowd. “To do it in front of 17,000 fans, our friends, our families makes it extra special.”
(1) SOUTH CAROLINA 64, MISSISSIPPI 57: Zia Cooke scored five of her 24 points in overtime to help South Carolina (27-0, 14-0 Southeastern Conference) by beating host Mississippi (20-7, 9-5).
The defending national champion Gamecocks got one of their biggest scares of the season before winning their 33rd straight game. The Rebels never trailed by more than six points in regulation and flirted with their first win over a No. 1 team in 46 years.
(4) UTAH 74, ARIZONA STATE 69: Gianna Kneepkens scored 22 points and Jenna Johnson added 15 to push visiting Utah (23-3, 13-3) over stubborn Arizona State (7-18, 0-16.
The Utes, who had a seven-game winning streak stopped at No. 18 Arizona on Friday, struggled to put away Arizona State without post player Alissa Pili.
Pili, the Pac-12’s leading scorer at 20.7 points per game, did not play after suffering an apparent right ankle sprain the final minutes of the loss at Arizona. Her ankle was re-taped on the bench after the first quarter but she never entered the game.
(5) LSU 90, FLORIDA 79: Angel Reese had her ninth first-half double-double, Jasmine Carson had a career-high five 3-pointers before the break and visiting LSU (25-1, 13-1 Southeastern Conference) raced past Florida (14-13, 3-11).
Reese finished with 25 points and 16 rebounds for her 25th double-double of the season, two shy of Sylvia Fowles’ LSU single-season record. She also had five assists, three blocks and two steals.
(9) DUKE 56, VIRGINIA 52: Elizabeth Balogun scored 12 points, Taya Corosdale had 10 and visiting Duke (22-4, 13-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) survived a stern test from Virginia (15-12, 4-12).
The Blue Devils led only 47-45 with just over eight minutes left, but Celeste Taylor hit a 3-pointer from right in front of the Duke bench to make it a five-point game, starting a 7-2 run that gave them some breathing room and they held on.
(10) NOTRE DAME 83, PITTSBURGH 43: Maddy Westbeld and Sonia Citron scored 13 points each and visiting Notre Dame (22-4, 13-3 ACC) used a huge first-quarter push to race by Pittsburgh (10-17, 3-13).
The Fighting Irish went on an 18-3 burst over the final 6:47 of the opening quarter to build a 16-point lead that the Panthers never really threatened.
(11) VIRGINIA TECH 75, NORTH CAROLINA STATE 62: Roommates Elizabeth Kitley and Georgia Amoore both had double-doubles and host Virginia Tech (22-4, 12-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) won its fifth straight, defeating North Carolina State (18-9, 8-8).
(15) OKLAHOMA 86, KANSAS 80: Madi Williams scored 23 points, Liz Scott had a double-double, and visiting Oklahoma (22-4, 12-3 Big 12) held off Kansas (16-9, 6-8).
A free throw by Zakiyah Franklin drew Kansas within 82-80 with 3:12 remaining. Neither team had another field goal as Kansas missed its last nine shots and Oklahoma’s last field goal came with 5:12 remaining.
(17) TEXAS 74, WEST VIRGINIA 48: Shaylee Gonzales had 18 points, Rori Harmon scored 16 and Khadija Faye added a double-double to Texas (21-7, 12-3 Big 12 Conference) over West Virginia (16-9, 7-7) at Austin, Texas.
(18) ARIZONA 61, (21) COLORADO 42: Shaina Pellington scored 19 points with five assists and host Arizona (21-6, 11-5 Pac 12 Conference) smothered Colorado, ending the Buffaloes’ five-game winning streak.
The Wildcats held the Buffaloes to their lowest total of the season and their worst shooting game, 28.3% overall (15 of 53), 1 of 12 from 3-point range (8.3%).
(19) NORTH CAROLINA 71, WAKE FOREST 58: Deja Kelly had 24 points, five rebounds and six assists to lead North Carolina (19-8, 10-6 ACC) to a win at home over Wake Forest (14-13, 5-11).
(24) FLORIDA STATE 80, GEORGIA TECH 66: Ta’Niya Latson scored 31 points on 10-of-16 shooting and 9-of-10 free throws, leading host Florida State (22-7, 11-5 ACC) over Georgia Tech (13-13, 4-11).
CALIFORNIA 81, (25) USC 78: Jayda Curry scored 27 points and Michelle Onyiah had six points in overtime as host California (13-14, Pac-12) upended USC (19-8, 9-7 Pac-12).
MEN’S BASKETBALL
(2) HOUSTON 72, MEMPHIS 64: J’Wan Roberts had a career-high 20 points and 12 rebounds, and Marcus Sasser also scored 20 points as host Houston (25-2, 13-1 American Athletic Conference) held off Memphis (20-7, 10-4).
(3) PURDUE 82, OHIO STATE 55: Zach Edey had 26 points and 11 rebounds for his 21st double-double this season to lead host Purdue (24-4, 13-4 Big Ten) past Ohio State (11-16, 3-13).
(23) NORTH CAROLINA STATE 77, NORTH CAROLINA 69: Jarkel Joiner took over for No. 23 North Carolina State during a critical second-half stretch, matching his season high with 29 points to lead the Wolfpack (21-7, 11-6 ACC) past the Tar Heels 16-11, 8-8) in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Joiner had 20 of his points after the break for the Wolfpack. That included an impressive flurry in a tight game that finally gave N.C. State some breathing room.
SOFTBALL
UMAINE 5, UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE AT CHATTANOOGA 4: Maggie Helms scored on an error in the seventh inning for the winning run as the Black Bears (4-5) won at Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Immy Gie, Kelby Drews and Jasmine Gray had RBI singles for UMaine.
Caitlyn Fallon (3-2) pitched 3 2/3 scoreless, hitless innings of relief for the win.
BASEBALL
UMAINE 8, PITTSBURGH 5: Connor Goodman went 2 for 3 with six RBI as the Black Bears (2-1) topped the Panthers at Sarasota, Florida.
Goodman had a three-run homer in the third to wipe out a 2-0 deficit. He had an RBI fielder’s choice in the fifth and a two-run single in the sixth.
Jake Rainess and Quinn McDaniel each had two hits for UMaine.
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