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Indiana women's basketball reaches win milestone with March Madness victory vs. Utah
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- Indiana women's basketball reaches win milestone with March Madness victory vs. Utah
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Indiana women's basketball head coach Teri Moren high-fived a couple of her players and staff before calmly walking over to shake Utah coach Gavin Petersen's hand after the Hoosiers' first-round March Madness win Friday. Her ninth-seeded Hoosiers had just defeated the No. 8 Utes 76-68.
She perhaps was focused on the next game. She and her team likely will play the reigning national champion and No. 1 seed South Carolina in the second round. The Gamecocks play No. 16 Tennessee Tech in Friday's second game at Colonial Life Arena.
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Last season, Indiana fell to South Carolina in the Sweet 16, losing by just four points.
When Moren took the job at Indiana in 2014, the Hoosiers had suffered through 12 straight years of not qualifying for the NCAA Tournament. Now she's coaching in her fifth straight March Madness, winning at least a game each year.
With this win, Moren has led Indiana to its 10th consecutive 20-win season.
"It's the players," Moren said before Friday's game. "You can only win with high-level, skilled players that really understand that it's more about we than me."
Against Utah, junior guard Shay Ciezki had 16 points, three assists and two rebounds to help lead Indiana to the win. Yarden Garzon added 17 points.
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"We want to work hard. That comes from the players, and the coaches help us with that," Ciezki said at Thursday's media day. "That just speaks volumes of the people that Coach Moren brings in and the staff that she surrounds herself with."
In last year's Sweet 16, the Hoosiers trailed by as many as 22 points in the second half, before cutting the South Carolina lead to just two with less than a minute remaining. At the end, the Gamecocks were able to pull away and get the victory.
Sunday, Moren's team might have a chance at revenge.
Carter Braun is a student in the University of Georgia's Sports Media Certificate program.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Indiana women's basketball wins NCAA bracket opener to reach milestone
