McKenzie Holmes ends stellar career at Indiana with Sweet 16 loss to South Carolina

She finished as the winningest player and all-time leading scorer in school history.

“Mackenzie Holmes has been one of our greatest players to wear an Indiana uniform and will be remembered as one of the greatest players in history,” Indiana coach Terry Moren said. “So I’m sad for him.”

Holmes, a third-team All-American, gave the Hoosiers a chance to pull off a major upset of the undefeated Gamecocks, scoring six of her 12 points in the fourth quarter, including a layup that cut the deficit to two.

“I mean, obviously anyone who knows me knows how much I love being a Hoosier,” Holmes said, choking back tears. “I just pray that any high-schoolers who are looking at colleges choose a school where they feel the same way I felt about Indiana.”

The first half was difficult for Holmes. She missed her first five shots before scoring in the final minute. But he stepped it up in the second, and there was no panic from the Hoosiers, who were down by 22 points in the third quarter.

“I think we knew we were able to come back. We saw Tennessee do that in that SEC Tournament semifinal. “We just had to stay on track,” Holmes said. “Like coach said, we played hard the whole third and fourth quarter tonight, whether the shots were falling or not. We kept coming back on defense, making stops, making plays on the other end.

Holmes finished his career with 2,530 points and a school-best field-goal percentage of 63.9%. He had 990 rebounds, fourth best all-time at Indiana.

“Aside from the accomplishments, I have met friends here at IU who have turned into family, people who will stay with me for the rest of my life,” Holmes said. “I think the greatest achievement of all the experiences is the moments and the people I have spent five years here with.”

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