Going into the 2018-19 season, Indiana University women’s basketball coach Teri Moren wanted to put the program’s National Invitational Tournament championship behind them.

While the achievement has its place in Hoosiers history with a banner on display at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, the ultimate goal for Moren and company didn’t’ change: Bringing an NCAA championship back to Bloomington.

The Hoosiers returned to March Madness this spring but fell short in the quest for the national title.

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Moren, a Seymour native, recently wrapped up her fifth year of coaching the Hoosiers.

Entering the season, Moren made the goals clear from the start.

“Every year is a new year,” she said. “For us, there was certainly some big shoes to fill with the loss of our all-time leading scorer (Tyra Buss) and third all-time leading scorer (Amanda Cahill); however, we were ready to shelf the WNIT championship and move on. Our goal wasn’t to repeat. It was to get into the NCAA tournament. The message was that we had a lot of work to do, but we had the pieces.”

The Hoosiers started the season 11-0 in non-conference play before falling to Grambling State at the Puerto Rico Classic on Dec. 20. The Hoosiers bounced back to defeat South Dakota the next day before entering Big 10 Conference play.

IU beat Illinois (in overtime), Penn State and Michigan State before hitting a tough patch of games. From Jan. 10 through Feb. 18, the Hoosiers went 3-9 in the Big 10, including four straight losses from Feb. 11 to 18.

The Hoosiers picked up a huge win against No.10-ranked Iowa, which also was the 100th for Moren as head coach of IU, and a solid win over Purdue before entering the Big 10 tournament.

Seeded No. 10 with an 8-10 Big 10 record, the Hoosiers topped Minnesota before falling to the eventual tourney winner, Iowa. “We got off to a hot start by going 11-1 in non-conference play,” Moren said. “We got into Big 10 play and hit a rough patch, and we lost (Columbus native) Ali Patberg to a separated shoulder. We played four games without our leading scorer and point guard. We just stayed consistent with the process. When we got (Patberg) back, we had a huge win over Iowa. We had a big win against Purdue and then beat Minnesota, a game which we knew we needed to win to get to the tournament.”

The Hoosiers received an at-large bid into the NCAA tournament, receiving a No. 10 seed.

The 2019 brackets were leaked early, but the Hoosiers waited until everything was finalized to celebrate.{p class=”p-text”}”Fortunately and unfortunately, we saw the brackets early,” Moren said. “We wanted those kids, the freshmen and kids that haven’t been in the tournament, to experience what it’s like to sit there with your team in your locker room and see the brackets revealed. I’ve been there as a player and coach, and there’s something really special about that moment.{p class=”p-text”}”I was really disappointed that they didn’t get to experience that. From a coaching standpoint, we were excited. You’re still a little suspicious until you see it on the TV, but there was still a little anxiety because we were the last bracket to come out.”

In the first round, the Hoosiers defeated No. 7 Texas 69-65 in Eugene, Oregon, setting up a match up with the host team, No. 2 Oregon, on March 24.

The Hoosiers trailed the Longhorns 37-29 at intermission before holding Texas to just 28 points in the second half.{p class=”p-text”}”Even though we had a deficit at the half, we had the same message that we always tell them,” Moren said. “We tell them we have been here before and that if we can do what we need to do in terms of following the scouting report and knocking down some shots, we will be right back in it. We had a hot third quarter (outscoring Texas 23-12) and really got the lead there. The message is to always keep your foot on the pedal and not let up.{p class=”p-text”}”You don’t go away from what we’ve been doing all year. We put our heads down and went to work. Even though we got outrebounded, we were able to cause them to turn it over 23 times and knocked down shots.”{p class=”p-text”}The Ducks, who played South Dakota State in the Sweet 16 late Friday night, built an early lead and held on to top the Hoosiers 91-68.{p class=”p-text”}Moren said University of Oregon’s Matthew Knight Arena was a unique venue, and the Ducks had a tough team.{p class=”p-text”}”The crowd is on top of you, which I love. It creates a lot of energy and enthusiasm,” Moren said. “They probably had 7,000 people there. They helped will their team to a win. It was difficult. Your kids can’t hear you because it’s so loud. I think we got a little rattled. We then had our best defender (Bendu Yeaney) go out with an Achilles injury, and you’re playing without her. There were some things inside that game, some adversity, that we weren’t able to overcome in a short amount of time.”

It was the second time Moren advanced the Hoosiers into the second round of the NCAA tournament since taking over during the 2014-15 season.

In 2016, when Moren was named Big 10 Coach of the Year, the Hoosiers beat Georgia before falling to Notre Dame in the tournament. Indiana hadn’t been to the tournament since 2002 and hadn’t won a game in 33 years.{p class=”p-text”}”Every year, you get a new team, and it’s about trying to figure out what buttons to push and how you can either get them to believe or understand the things we have to do to win games if we want to play in the NCAA tournament,” Moren said. “It’s always a process with your basketball program, staff and team.”

Moren has a record of 103-66 at IU and a 303-196 overall record in 16 seasons between three teams as a head coach.

The Hoosiers return all but two players to next year’s team, as Grace Withrow and Kym Royster both graduate from the program.

A Seymour native also will graduate from the Hoosiers’ program. Seth Stuckwisch, a 2015 Seymour High School graduate, recently wrapped up a four-year career as a manager.

Moren said Stuckwisch has meant a lot to the program.{p class=”p-text”}”Seth and our managers are so selfless and committed to our program. He’s loyal and a tremendous worker,” Moren said. “That’s one of the things I’ve always been adamant about: Surrounding myself with people that are just going to work, not only on my staff, but the people that are in practice each and every day.{p class=”p-text”}”Seth usually beats me to the office. It just says something about his parents and how he was raised and how important it is for him to live up to the expectations that we have. He had a true commitment to Indiana women’s basketball, and we’re going to miss him for a lot of reasons.”

Moren currently is on the recruiting trail until the program takes a break in May.{p class=”p-text”}”We’re doing home visits right now,” Moren said. “Recruiting never stops. I’m looking forward to May when we have a mandatory shutdown. It gives us some time to sort of relax and compress from a great season.”