IU women’s basketball had an emergence from ‘a confident Lilly’ on Friday. How feeding Lilly Meister ‘the good juice’ is just what the Hoosiers need

When IU women’s basketball needed a quick and early boost on Friday, head coach Teri Moren turned to Lilly Meister, someone who has been through the ups and downs this year. But, the third-year forward is a critical piece to the upside of the Hoosiers this March. So, finding early confidence for Meister was a point of emphasis for Moren and Indiana.

After a slow 1-of-6 start, Indiana went right to Meister who converted. Then, she proceeded to score six in a row and eight of the next 10 points giving Indiana the exact boost it needed. And in turn, the confidence she needed.

“Yeah. I’m so happy for Lilly. I think we all are,” IU women’s basketball guard Chloe Moore-McNeil said after the 76-68 win. “But I think what you’ve seen today was a confident Lilly. We gave her good juice, and once she got going, I mean, the rest was history for her.”

Meister came to Indiana and was expected to take on a larger role after Mackenzie Holmes — the program’s all-time leading scorer — graduated. At the beginning of the season, Meiser was in the starting lineup for the first 17 games of the season and averaged 10.2 points and 4.9 rebounds a game while shooting 52.7 percent from the field. Then, Meister was moved to the bench — a role that came with different responsibilities.

In those next 15 games she averaged 3.0 points and 2.1 rebounds a game and had not scored in double figures. That was until Friday’s win in the NCAA Tournament, scoring 11 points on 5-of-5 from the field in 15 minutes.

“Chloe said it, I think we’re all so happy for the way Lilly showed up today. And she was spot on,” Moren said. “When Lilly is confident, Lilly is a really good basketball player, and I think throughout the season she kind of lost that throughout. But one thing I know about her teammates is they’ve continued to pour into her and pour into her and encourage her and give her good juice as we call it.”

It was her first game in double figures since December 28 when she had 20 points against Wisconsin. Her five field goals almost matcher her total from the last 10 games combined, with six, as well.

While the season hasn’t gone according to their plan — for both the coaching staff and Meister — her emergence on Friday is a welcomed sign ahead of a big showdown on Sunday against No. 1 seed South Carolina.

Though Meister won’t be called on to replicate Friday’s performance each and every potential night moving forward, it gives Indiana more flexibility and confidence continuing to play the rotation of her and Karoline Striplin together. Striplin, who played 25 minutes and scored 10 points in the NCAA Tournament opener, is averaging 10.1 points and 3.6 rebounds in 20.8 minutes a game. Meister is at 6.8 points and 3.6 rebounds in 17.4 minutes a game.

They both bring different skillsets to the IU women’s basketball lineup and both are capable of providing big minutes for Indiana.

“I thought she and Strip played really well,” Moren said. “Those two were coming in and out for each other, and every time either one of them got into the game tonight — or this afternoon I thought they impacted it. So it was great to see.”

SEE ALSO: When a culture has been built, there’s no compromising. So for IU women’s basketball, ‘the standards never change’ and that was on full display in opening NCAA Tournament win

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