In April, Indiana women’s basketball added a pair of transfers: senior forward Karoline Striplin from the University of Tennessee and junior guard Shay Ciezki from Penn State. The two were brought in to fill the gaps left in the Hoosiers’ lineup by the departures of forward Mackenzie Holmes and guard Sara Scalia.
Ciezki’s career as a Hoosier got off to a slow start. Through the first three games, she shot 36% from the field and made just one of her nine 3-point attempts. Like Ciezki, Striplin did not start the season with immediate success. The Hartford, Alabama, native tallied 17 points and five rebounds in her Indiana debut but fell quiet in her eight appearances after.
But the two transfers have found their form heading into Indiana’s full slate of Big Ten games. On Sunday, Ciezki and Striplin led the Hoosiers in scoring with 20 and 16 points, respectively, in their dominating 90-55 victory over Oakland University. Striplin went 7 for 9 from the field with five rebounds, as Ciezki went 4 for 7 from beyond the arc with three assists.
“I feel like me and Shay have gotten a lot more comfortable in knowing our roles, specifically and just what coach expects of us,” Striplin said postgame. “And it’s nice to already know that everybody else on the team is stepping up their game, so it just helps us that much more.”
Ciezki agreed with Striplin’s sentiments about finding her place in the new program.
Sunday’s win over the Golden Grizzlies was just a continuation of the transfers finding more comfortability with their new team. Ciezki began to find her rhythm in the Hoosiers’ win over Columbia on Nov. 23, when she scored 34 points and shot 80% from 3-point range. Against Penn State on Dec. 7, Striplin recorded a 22-point performance and went perfect from the field, as she started to find more confidence in her role at Indiana.
“I think (Striplin) has just played really well,” head coach Teri Moren said. “Maybe it was from the Penn State game, but she’s playing with a tremendous amount of confidence right now, which is really good for us.”
Striplin attributed her increase in assurance to Moren
“For me, specifically, everywhere does things different,” Striplin said. “I think it’s just a matter of like little things that you have to train your brain not to do, so I feel like coach Moren has been really instrumental in me feeling more confident here.”
Throughout the beginning of the season, Striplin has come off the bench for the Hoosiers, splitting time with junior forward Lilly Meister. While Striplin also came off the bench for most of her games at Tennessee last season, she said her time with the Hoosiers has been unlike her three years with the Lady Volunteers.
“I think that it has been two different, very different, experiences for me,” Striplin said. “And I’ve always just kind of done what the coach needed me to do, and, right now, I feel like I’m doing the same. I know Lilly is going to bring her A game every single time, so I definitely want to make sure that I’m going to support her as well and whatever coach needs me to do.”
Ciezki and Striplin’s success will play a significant role in the Hoosiers’ performance as they start their full slate of Big Ten games. Indiana will continue conference play Saturday against Wisconsin inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. But after facing the Badgers, the Hoosiers will host No. 1 UCLA on Jan. 4.
“Everyone really brings a lot of energy to practice and each day, and I feel like that can only cause positive outcomes,” Striplin said. “It’s just really nice to see come to fruition right now, especially when we’re about to start Big Ten.”
Shay Ciezki shows 3-point skills at Hoosier Hysteria, gives IU women another sharpshooter
The Indiana women’s basketball team has another sharpshooter on its hands.
After losing Sara Scalia, the program’s single-season 3-point record-holder, head coach Teri Moren went into the transfer portal looking for another strong shooter beyond the arc. Scalia was an All-Big Ten first-teamer who made 103 3-pointers in her final season as a Hoosier and finished her career shooting 39.5% from beyond the arc.
But Moren was determined. She found another 3-point maestro in Shay Ciezki, who came to Indiana from conference rival Penn State. Ciezki, a Buffalo, New York, native was a full-time starter with the Nittany Lions, making 59 starts over two years. Ciezki led Penn State with 74 3-pointers on 36.8% shooting in her sophomore season.
As an incoming junior, her talent easily transferred to Bloomington.
Ciezki won the Hoosier Hysteria women’s 3-point contest on Friday night, prevailing over two rounds. She made eight straight 3-pointers in the first round, as well as an intentional buzzer-beater, to make 17 of her 25 shots.
Going up against Sydney Parrish in the final round, Ciezki made 17 3-pointers again, barely beating out Parrish’s 16.
Suffice it to say, Indiana’s 3-point shooting will be just fine.
“I’m so excited to be a part of this team, and I know the sky’s the limit,” Ciezki told Parrish in an interview following her 3-point contest win. “… The goal is a Big Ten championship.”
A Big Ten title will be even more difficult in the new-look Big Ten, which includes No. 3 USC and No. 5 UCLA. Indiana, which went 26-6 last year, had some rebuilding to do after losing Scalia, along with five-year center and program leading scorer Mackenzie Holmes.
But Moren always instills a culture of excellence, and that hasn’t changed this year. With both key losses and key additions, Indiana came in at No. 25 in the Associated Press preseason rankings.
“We never put a number on how many games we want to win, because I don’t want to limit this group,” Moren said in an interview with Hoosier Hysteria emcee Tricia Whitaker. “I think there’s so much great potential that we have. Each year we go into it and just take it one game at a time, but I can tell you that this group is hungry. Last year we had a bitter defeat (in the Sweet 16) over the national championship team in South Carolina, we haven’t forgot about it, but it serves as motivation for us every day, and it’s inspiration for us to get up the next day and get a little bit better.”
Hoosier Hysteria was IU fans’ first look at Ciezki, fellow transfer from Tennessee Karoline Striplin, and freshmen Sydney Fenn and Faith Wiseman. They came in droves to see the newcomers, the returners for both the men’s and women’s team.
IU fan support was evident in the 2023-24 season, as the Hoosiers averaged more than 10,000 fans a game for just the fifth time in Big Ten women’s basketball history. Hometown fans never saw a loss in Assembly Hall, as Indiana went 17-0 at home — including a win over then-No. 4 Iowa.
This season, IU has multiple marquee games in Assembly Hall. UCLA comes to Bloomington on Jan. 4, and USC on Jan. 12. Moren doesn’t want just those games filled to the brim; she wants every game to be filled to the rafters in 2024-25.
“This has become one of the most difficult places in the country to play (because of the fans),” Moren said. “But I will say this. Here’s my goal for us: I want to see those rafters filled every single night, because I believe this team is going to be special, this program is going to be special. The popularity of women’s basketball across the country right now, what better state that has the best fans, I just said it. There’s no reason we can’t get this place filled every night.
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