‘Anytime that thing leaves her hands, we all believe it’s going in’: Sara Scalia continues terrific-shooting season as she sets IU women’s basketball single-season 3pt record

The Indiana women’s basketball program continues to break records over the last few years and another one was set on Wednesday night.

Indiana senior guard Sara Scalia hit four 3s to set an Indiana women’s basketball single-season record in made 3s with 79 … and counting. Scalia passed Amanda Cahill who previously held the single-season record.

“I had heard some things about how I was close to breaking the record like before coming into the game, but honestly, I didn’t really know like for sure how many away I was — honestly was just trying to focus on the game,” Scalia said postgame. ” … it means a lot because I’ve put a lot of work in the game and my game, especially. Just improving this offseason to be where I am today and the accomplishment like this doesn’t happen without my teammates.”

While the shot was big in itself to set the record, it was also a massive momentum-swinging make during the game.

A 16-point halftime lead shrank to just six and Wisconsin had all of the momentum on its side. But, with 35 seconds left, Scalia nailed her fourth three of the night — the record-setting shot — and pushed IU’s lead back up to nine.

That’s what sparked the energy going into the fourth quarter.

“We kinda had a slow start in the third quarter and needed something going on offense,” Scalia said. “So being able to hit that shot in that point in the game was definitely important and helped us bring the momentum back to our side to finish it off.”

In that third quarter Indiana was just 3-of-13 from the floor and had three turnovers. It was one of the least efficient quarters IU had all season.

Regardless of the made shot, it was a lesson that IU women’s basketball coach Teri Moren is glad this team learned.

“There has to be a lesson learned and often times it’s from losses that you learn a lesson. But there was a great lesson tonight that we learned from a win,” Moren said. “Any time your shot isn’t falling and that happened to us in the third quarter, that doesn’t mean our defense can go down the toilet. I thought we were thinking about the shots we missed and I dont know if we felt bad for ourselves, but we lacked a lot of toughness, grittiness defensively. That’s a bad habit to develop and we aren’t going to be that team.

“So that’s when your defense — when you aren’t shooting it well — your defense has to become greater and better and stops are that much more important because maybe you get a run out and see that thing go through the hoop and feel a little different.”

Trending: Mackenzie Holmes is ‘always about the team’. But, Sunday was for her and was ‘really special’ as she set the IU women’s basketball program all-time scoring record

Scalia, who finished with 15 points, has been terrific this season in a more predominant role for the Hoosiers.

She is averaging 16.3 points per game while shooting 44.6 percent from three on 3.3 made 3s per game. She is currently second in the Big Ten and fourth in the NCAA in made 3s this year. She is first in the Big Ten and 11th nationally in three-point percentage.

She’s averaging 19.8 points per game while shooting 47.2 percent on 4.3 made 3s per game in her last eight games.

“When we’re on the same side of the floor, you have to make a decision if you’re going to help off of Sara Scalia. I don’t think you should ever help off Sara Scalia,” IU All-American forward Mackenzie Holmes said. “Every time the ball leaves her hands I think it’s going in. It’s the confidence she has in herself and she knows the confidence we have in her as well. She’s an elite shooter. But even if you are guarding her she’s done a great job being able to create space.”

Scalia arrived at Indiana known as a shooter from her three seasons prior at Minnesota. She could always shoot and score the ball but her overall development as a leader and well-rounded player has shown this season.

“She has — she’s been terrific,” Moren added. “She’s played with confidence and I know you guys watched it but they were physical with her tonight. As we move forward more teams are going to be. She’s continued to shoot it at a high, high level for us. I’ve talked about her ability to put it on the deck and be aggressive and just not be a catch and shoot kid. So I love how aggressive she’s played. She also has to guard on the other end really hard. I’m really, really happy she was able to get the new record tonight. it’s special for her and her teammates were really happy for her.”

Not only were her teammates and coaches happy and able to see her record-setting performance in person, but so were a handful of Scalia’s family members. She had her parents, aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents in the crowd.

“It’s a really good feeling because I’m really close with my family and the’ve supported me throughout all the highs and lows,” Scalia said. “It’s definitely — accomplishing something like this and experiencing it with them after the game.”

As the IU women’s basketball program moves to 21-3 overall and 12-2 in Big Ten play, any win is notable, especially with just four games remaining.

And for Scalia, her competitive nature is always shown. Regardless of if she just set a single-season record.

“She’s very quiet, stoic. You’ll get a smile out of her, like when you congratulated her and her teammates were hugging on her,” Moren said. ” … she has an unbelievable personality and is a great teammate and friend to those guys in the locker room and another kid that they look up to and respect because of the work she puts in.”

So, there likely won’t be any slowing down from her in the near future.

“Anytime that thing leaves her hands we all believe it’s going in,” Moren said. “That’s how much confidence she gives us.”

SEE ALSO: ‘She’s making progress’: Sydney Parrish getting closer to a return for IU women’s basketball

Make sure to follow Hoosier Illustrated, part of the Full Ride Network, on Twitter @Indiana_FRN, Facebook and YouTube to stay up to date on all of the news, updates and coverage of Indiana University athletics. You can also listen to the Talking’ Bout the Hoosiers podcast on Spotify.

Looking for a place to get more Indiana content? Hoosier Illustrated has partnered with Tom Brady’s company ‘Autograph’ to streamline our coverage, so you can continue to do what you do best – follow IU sports. Use the CODE: Indianafr to get started today. For more info, you can start here.