Indiana Senior guard Jaelynn Penn and sophomore forward Mackenzie Holmes each scored 19 points as No. 19 Indiana cruised to a 75-54 win at Minnesota in the team’s Big Ten road opener at Williams Arena.

Minnesota Sophomore Jasmine Powell and graduate transfer Laura Bagwell Katalinich each reached double figures for the Golden Gophers (1-4, 0-3 Big Ten), scoring 12 and 10 points, respectively. Bagwell Katalinich, who made her first start at Minnesota, also tied for the team lead with six rebounds along with sophomore Kadi Sissoko and took a pair of charges.

Minnesota started the game strong and led after the first quarter, 16-15. Six different Gophers scored in the stanza, highlighted by freshman Alexia Smith’s 3-pointer at the buzzer to put Minnesota ahead. It was a better start for the Gophers, who entered the contest being outscored 23.8 to 14.0 in the first quarter this year. 

The Hoosiers showed why they are a top-25 team though in the second quarter, scoring the first seven points and 12 of the first 14. Minnesota closed the frame with a bit of momentum as Powell scored on a driving layup with three seconds left, though Indiana did have a 36-25 lead at intermission. Holmes and Berger each had seven points in the second quarter for IU.

Indiana extended the lead to 15 at 42-27 in the third, but sophomore Sara Scalia hit a 3-pointer and Bagwell Katalinich knocked down a pair of free throws to get it to a 10-point lead with 7:29 to play in the third. Minnesota would get no closer though as Penn scored five straight on her own, and Minnesota was held without a point for over five minutes to swing the game back to the Hoosiers.

Minnesota will now have 11 days off before it returns to the court on Jan. 3 at Wisconsin. Indiana closes out the 2020 calendar year against Illinois at home on New Year’s Eve.

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Indiana head coach Teri Moren

Defensively I thought Jaelynn Penn was really good. Obviously, she had a good night offensively as well, but we ask Jaelynn to have the challenge of guarding Jasmine Powell and I thought she did a terrific job on her. Mack got back in rhythm, good on the low block. Grace Berger who is still struggling, I would say a little bit still, with her offensive. But, that will come. I think we all have confidence that it will come. Under 15 with turnovers, it was a good road win. Those wins are always incredibly difficult to win, but road wins as I always say are a different kind of challenge. Really happy and pleased with the way we played this afternoon tonight against a really good Minnesota team on the road.”