Ground Report

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The Indiana women’s basketball team fell to No. 17 Rutgers (9-2) in its Big Ten opener on Sunday, 66-51. The Hoosiers (10-2) led by as many as five points in the first half, but were unable to overcome the hot second period shooting of the Scarlet Knights.

Sophomore Larryn Brooks led the Hoosiers with 13 points. Freshman Amanda Cahill added nine points and four rebounds, while freshmen Jess Walters and Tyra Buss each scored seven points.

After Rutgers opened the game with a 6-0 advantage, the Hoosiers took their first lead of the game using a 7-0 run, including a pair of buckets from Buss and a trey from Cahill.

Two straight 3-pointers from Brooks and a layup from Buss forced Rutgers to call a timeout with the Indiana lead stretched to 15-10 with 7:59 remaining in the opening stanza.

A triple from Walters gave the Hoosiers a 24-20 advantage, however Rutgers closed out the half on an 8-0 run to take a 28-24 lead into the locker room.

The Scarlet Knights picked up where they left off in the second half and extended the lead to 41-29 with 12:38 remaining.

Rutgers’ Cynthia Hernandez then hit three back-to-back 3-pointers to push the lead to 50-34.

A layup from sophomore Jenn Anderson brought the Hoosiers to within 12 at the 8:33 mark, but Indiana would get no closer as the Scarlet Knights finished the half on 51.9 percent (14-of-27) shooting from the field.

The Hoosiers return to Assembly Hall on Wednesday as they play host to Michigan State at 7 p.m.

Media Contact: Ryan Sheets, rmsheets@indiana.edu