Shay Ciezki leads Indiana women's basketball to dominant win

Indiana women’s basketball dominated Louisiana-Monroe, 98-54, to bounce back from a loss to Illinois earlier this week.

Shay Ciezki continued her consistent scoring with a team-leading 31 points — her third game of the season scoring 30-plus. Freshman Maya Makalusky scored 22 in her first start.

The Hoosiers are 9-2 with a Sunday matinee coming up against Eastern Michigan at 1 p.m. Indiana has just two more nonconference games before Big Ten play resumes.

Here are three things we learned.

Maya Makalusky shines in first start for IU women’s basketball

Reigning Indiana Miss Basketball Makalusky got her first start of the season Thursday night, and she made sure to make the most of it.

Makalusky, who came off the bench for the first 10 games of the season, took Valentyna Kadlecova’s spot in the starting lineup against Louisiana-Monroe, while Kadlecova became the first player off the bench.

And Makalusky proved she deserved that starting spot early. She started the game 3 for 3 from the line and set a career high in scoring by halftime with 11 points.

She finished the game with 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting (6 of 10 from 3-point range), the second highest scoring Hoosier behind Ciezki. It was a potential sign of a breakthrough for the freshman.

If Makalusky’s spot in the starting lineup sticks, two freshmen will be in Teri Moren’s starting lineup; Nevaeh Caffey, a freshman out of Missouri, has been a starter since the beginning of the season.

IU women’s basketball benefit from hot shooting night

In the frigid Bloomington temperatures, Indiana was hot from the field.

The Hoosiers exploited the Warhawks’ relative lack of height, bursting through the lane for 30 points. Indiana ended up shooting 64.2% (34 of 53), including an 13-of-24 clip from 3 against Louisiana-Monroe. Ciezki led the charge with a 12-of-17 mark from the field for 31 points.

Their hot shooting night overshadowed a deficiency on the glass, too. Louisiana-Monroe collected 19 offensive rebounds with 15 second-chance points, and the Warhawks ended up outrebounding the Hoosiers, 37-33, fueled by those offensive rebounds.

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IU women’s basketball struggle with turnovers for second straight game

Indiana left its loss at Illinois with 20 turnovers, and it wasn’t something they were able to clean up against Louisiana-Monroe.

The Hoosiers ended the game with 16 turnovers, multiple coming from miscommunications.

It wasn’t too much of an issue against Louisiana-Monroe, who only scored 16 points off those turnovers because of a tough shooting night, but the inability to take care of the ball could become a bigger issue as Indiana moves into Big Ten play.

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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana women’s basketball score today, Shay Ciezki points, Maya Makalusky stats

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