{"id":407659,"date":"2026-01-12T05:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T05:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/407659\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T05:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T05:26:09","slug":"column-shay-ciezki-keeps-scoring-indiana-womens-basketball-keeps-losing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/407659\/","title":{"rendered":"COLUMN: Shay Ciezki keeps scoring. Indiana women\u2019s basketball keeps losing"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was\u00a0the\u00a0first time all season\u00a0that the infamous \u201cHoosiers\u201d clip\u00a0of Gene Hackman\u2019s character,\u00a0Norman Dale,\u00a0slow-clapping\u00a0at\u00a0halftime<\/a>\u00a0was shown on the jumbotron of Assembly\u00a0Hall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The fans in attendance followed along with\u00a0the\u00a0scene, trying to give Indiana women\u2019s basketball the momentum it needed in the final 10 minutes to close out\u00a0a win against\u00a0No. 14 Iowa<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sophomore\u00a0forward\u00a0Zania\u00a0Socka-Nguemen\u00a0had just made a\u00a0second-chance layup to give the Hoosiers\u00a0a\u00a0one-point\u00a0lead with 30 seconds\u00a0remaining\u00a0in the third quarter. Indiana followed that possession by forcing Iowa senior forward Hannah\u00a0Stuelke\u00a0to miss\u00a0a contested shot\u00a0late in the shot\u00a0clock\u00a0to end the frame.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Hoosiers had a\u00a039-38 lead.\u00a0It was supposed to be a moment that pushed Indiana over the edge\u00a0to win its first game against a Big Ten opponent.\u00a0A\u00a00-5 start to conference play could be over.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What followed was sloppy play, costly\u00a0turnovers\u00a0and a\u00a0lack\u00a0of 3-point\u00a0makes.\u00a0The\u00a0final score read 56-53<\/a>\u00a0after\u00a0the\u00a0Hoosiers were outscored 18-14 in the fourth quarter. It was a game that left\u00a0many Indiana fans scratching their\u00a0heads, thinking, \u201cWhat went wrong?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

But throughout the contest \u2014 and the season overall \u2014 a trend has\u00a0impeded\u00a0Indiana. Outside of senior guard Shay Ciezki, the Hoosiers\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0score the ball consistently.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Ciezki finished with 21 points\u00a0in the loss. She shot the ball 24 times, knocking down\u00a0nine of her field goal attempts.\u00a010 of\u00a0her shots\u00a0came\u00a0from\u00a03-point range, where she only made one\u00a0triple.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish I could give you an exact reason, but sometimes you\u2019re on and sometimes you\u2019re off,\u201d Ciezki said\u00a0postgame\u00a0Sunday. \u201cThat\u2019s\u00a0just how the game works. And tonight, obviously, was not the night for us 3-point-wise.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her\u00a03-point effort was highlighted by\u00a0a\u00a0make\u00a0in\u00a0transition to put Indiana up 25-17 with 4:32 left in the second quarter. However, the effort was lowlighted by\u00a0an airball to open the second half. A sign of the trouble coming\u00a0for\u00a0Indiana.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 5-foot-7 Ciezki can shot-create and shot-make at an All-Big Ten and All-American level.\u00a0She\u2019s\u00a0shooting above 40% from all over the floor\u00a0\u2014 except on\u00a03-point attempts from further than 25 feet \u2014\u00a0and has turned a mid-range jumper into an almost automatic shot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Ciezki\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0be the only source of offense for Indiana this season.\u00a0A continued lack of scoring depth will guarantee future\u00a0horrid offensive performances against Big Ten opponents.\u00a048 points scored\u00a0against\u00a0Minnesota<\/a>\u00a0and 57 points scored against\u00a0Illinois<\/a>\u00a0jump off the page\u00a0in the Hoosiers\u2019\u00a0past games.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Indiana\u00a0only scored\u00a053 points in Sunday\u2019s game, but an improved effort on defense and a cold shooting performance by Iowa\u00a0(35.6%)\u00a0helped\u00a0keep the\u00a0game\u00a0close.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Socka-Nguemen\u00a0finished with\u00a0a second-most\u00a012 points, putting up 12 shots from the floor in the process. Redshirt sophomore guard\u00a0Len\u00e9e\u00a0Beaumont\u00a0went 2 for 11 from the field and finished with 5 points.\u00a0Freshman\u00a0guard Nevaeh Caffey produced 7 points and\u00a0freshman\u00a0forward Maya\u00a0Makalusky\u00a0went 0 for 4 from\u00a03-point range on her way to a zero-point performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Just looking at the starting lineup, there\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0a lot of help for Ciezki.\u00a0They\u2019re\u00a0not numbers that can\u00a0carry\u00a0a team to\u00a0win\u00a0against a conference\u00a0opponent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Over the course of the season, only three Hoosiers have produced double-digit\u00a0points per\u00a0game.\u00a0Ciezki\u2019s\u00a0at a Big Ten leading 23.2 points per contest, Beaumont\u2019s scoring 13.5 and\u00a0Socka-Nguemen\u00a0has had 12.6 in her 10 games played.\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The downturn in Beaumont\u2019s production over the last two games has been troubling for Indiana\u2019s chances\u00a0of\u00a0competing in the Big Ten.\u00a0Her 14-game streak of scoring 10-plus points came to a screeching end against Nebraska, where she had\u00a0zero\u00a0points and went 0 for 7 from the field.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019Beau\u2019 can be her worst enemy,\u201d Indiana head coach Teri Moren\u00a0said\u00a0postgame Sunday. \u201cIn terms of her hesitation taking shots. And I think when she misses a few, I think that really kind of plays with her confidence.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Caffey and\u00a0Makalusky\u00a0round out the top five scoring leaders at 7.4 and 6.7, respectively.\u00a0Who\u2019s\u00a0next? A player who\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0on the team anymore. Sophomore guard Valentyna\u00a0Kadlecova\u00a0was averaging 5.4 points per game before returning to the\u00a0Czech Republic in December<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Moren\u2019s\u00a0said that she has \u201csimplified\u201d\u00a0both sides of the ball\u00a0recently.\u00a0However, the simplicity of Indiana\u2019s offense is working against the Hoosiers in conference play. Indiana\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0find as many open attempts at the basket.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yes, an uptick in talent that the Hoosiers are playing is a reason for the increase in contested shots. But\u00a0many\u00a0Indiana players are not attacking the basket when given the opportunity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Senior guard Jerni Kiaku came into Sunday\u2019s game on Branch McCracken Court for only 12 minutes. She only put up\u00a0\u2014\u00a0and made\u00a0\u2014\u00a0two shots, but both\u00a0came\u00a0on layup\u00a0attempts\u00a0with her\u00a0going downhill\u00a0towards the basket.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s\u00a0a scoring mentality that needs to spread to other Hoosiers. Indiana\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0take\u00a0almost\u00a0all 30\u00a0seconds on the shot clock and expect to find an easy basket\u00a0on the offensive end.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Hoosiers stay at home Wednesday, competing against another daunting opponent in No. 23 Washington. If Indiana wants to finally get itself into the win column\u00a0in the Big Ten, not helping Ciezki offensively\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0happen.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was\u00a0the\u00a0first time all season\u00a0that the infamous \u201cHoosiers\u201d clip\u00a0of Gene Hackman\u2019s character,\u00a0Norman Dale,\u00a0slow-clapping\u00a0at\u00a0halftime\u00a0was shown on the jumbotron of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-407659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=407659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}