BLOOMINGTON — If the New Year’s Eve game against Illinois is going to be typical of the Big Ten schedule for the Indiana University women’s basketball team, fans should place their order with Costco for a box of pacemakers now.

There were several times the Hoosiers seemed poised to pull away, and then there were the Fighting Illini up on the rear bumper all over again driving faster than the speed limit.

Leads of 12, 11 and 11 evaporated. In the end, thanks to Mackenzie Holmes becoming the third different IU player in the last three games to hit the 30-point mark and guard Chloe Moore-McNeil following up on every “a” word coach Teri Moren encouraged her with, the Hoosiers won 77-71.

The 11,600 fans at Assembly Hall — one of the larger crowds in IU women’s hoops history — could wave their party hats and streamers. Indiana moved to 11-1 overall and 2-0 in league play and a day later inched up to No. 14 in the national rankings. This mostly-back-from-last-year’s team is the defending conference regular-season champion, and only a few days earlier, Moren said her group would have a target on its back.

Then the scrappy, 6-6 Illini proved it, and Moren admitted the game was likely prelude to a winter series of wars. The Hoosiers were “eager,” “anxious” to move forward with league play.

“Throw the records away, this is a new season,” she said.

Well, not brand-new. The Hoosiers’ seasoning through nonconference play and beating Rutgers in their only other league game showed off a lethal mix of weapons and gained experience for newcomers to contribute.

Moore-McNeil, a senior from Tennessee, is a pass-first point guard by nature, but recently, Moren delivered private pep talks stressing she should be more aggressive and attack the basket more. Moore-McNeil saluted the order and scored a season-high 19 points on 7-for-11 shooting that incorporated several slick drives to the hoop.

Although Moore-McNeil isn’t sure, sometimes, it appears defenders forget she is left-handed and her natural charging point is from the southpaw side. And although several times IU seemed poised to increase medium leads, Illinois pulled to within a point in the late going.

It was a Moore-McNeil pass that ignited the play of the day. She drove left, and when everyone thought she was going for a layup, instead she snapped a wrap-around pass to Yarden Garzon in the right corner for an open 3-pointer. That made the score 71-67.

“We need everybody’s best every single game,” Moore-McNeil said.

Actually, what the Hoosiers have shown is that they need somebody’s best every single game. On Dec. 18, in a victory over Evansville, Garzon pumped in a career-high 30 points. On Dec. 22, in a win over Bowling Green, guard Sara Scalia fired in a career-high 32 points.

It was Holmes’ turn, putting together a smorgasbord of spinning lefty and righty layups in the low post, demonstrating the form that made her an All-American last year. The Hoosiers really needed her 30 points against Illinois, which put three players in double figures, including Makira Cook with 24.

Holmes had streaks when she ripped off six IU points in a row here and nine straight IU points there. When the 6-foot-3 grad student from Maine gets going, teams cannot stop her one-on-one. She had the answer for Illinois’ hustle.

“Every game, my teammates are going to find me when I’m open,” Holmes said. “If I do my work, I’ll get open.”

The whole country knows that’s true. Holmes’ goal is to own the paint, and because her footwork is so creative, she can establish position and then score from either side of the basket.

“Mackenzie Holmes was special for us,” Moren said.

As smoothly as the Hoosiers operated in several of their nonconference routs, this was more of a heart game, digging deeper for a win after committing 16 turnovers on a day Scalia was 0-for-6 from the floor and another starter, Sydney Parrish, went 2-for-10.

Holmes shooting 10-for-14, Moore-McNeil 7-for-11, Garzon making 4-of-7 for 12 points and backup center Lily Meister going 4-for-4 showed versatility. It was only for a short time, but Moren deployed Holmes and Meister, a 6-3 sophomore, on the court together.

The double height option may show up again when IU faces Michigan at home Thursday night or later in the season when needed.

As Illinois illustrated, Big Ten teams will be coming at Indiana with everything, and that may become a fresh method of retaliation.