BLOOMINGTON — They had to dig deeper than a coal mine, enduring and prevailing while putting to rest thoughts of a haunting distant replay from a year ago.

Things were in doubt for most of Monday evening’s 40 minutes, but after a stretch when the lead changed hands eight straight times in the fourth quarter — all by one point — the Indiana University women’s basketball team stifled Oklahoma’s last gasps.

Pulling away in this tug of war was not reality until the final minute, but the Hoosiers’ 75-68 triumph, sealed by free throws and Sooner turnovers, propelled them into the NCAA Sweet 16.

They are off to Albany, N.Y., to meet overall No. 1 seeded, 34-0 South Carolina after sweeping past 31-2 Fairfield and the 23-10 Sooners here at Assembly Hall.

The 12,385 fans showed why homecourt can be a special advantage in a tournament with all at stake every game.

When March goes mad, the only thing that matters is surviving and these 26-5 Hoosiers desperately wanted their season to continue. To make that happen, they had to control the fourth quarter by relying on All-American center Mackenzie Holmes.

As the game wound down, Holmes, spinning to her left and right with equal facility, pumped in 29 points and scored eight straight IU points, twice providing leads. The last one, at 66-64, stuck with 1 minute, 17 seconds to go.

The 6-foot-3 Gorham, Maine, native breathed fire and brought screams and standing attention from fans. Coach Teri Moren said the Hoosiers were having so much trouble scoring in other ways, it was time to pull off a Mac Attack.

Oklahoma, 23-12, the regular-season champ of the Big 12, had no answer for Holmes in the low post, though she actually started the game missing in close shots she ordinarily does not.

Holmes was determined her last game in Assembly Hall would end in victory. She carried the memory of last year’s NCAA nearly identical situation with her. In 2023, IU earned home court play, then beat Tennessee Tech with ease, as they did Saturday, 89-56, over Fairfield. However, last year, the Hoosiers, lost round two to Miami, 70-68.

Although Moren said she did not want to dwell on that finish, she admitted returning players did think about that devastating loss.

“It’s bothered us, it really has,” Moren said.

The nationally 14 th-ranked Hoosiers finished 17-0 at home, counting NCAA games, and advanced to the Elite Eight or Sweet Sixteen for the third time since 2020-21. After the game was secured, Holmes led a team charge into the bleachers where students sat to mingle, hug and high-five.

Inside the locker room, players dumped water over Moren’s head, a la the popular Gatorade showers instigated with NFL coaches.

“They got me pretty good,” said Moren, who was still toweling off in the post-game press conference. “I’m soaked toe-to-toe or head to toe, but it was all worth it just to be in that room, you know, just celebrating with that group because certainly they’re really excited.”

Those celebrations were hard-earned. The score was 19-19 after one quarter and 30-29 IU at halftime, then 48-46 Sooners after three periods.

“Obviously this is a really tough one,” said Sooner coach Jennie Baranczyk, noting the loss hurt “and I understand Indiana’s a great basketball team, this is a great environment for the NCAA tournament. This is just a little tough for us to swallow at this time.”

Not only was Holmes uncharacteristically missing close to the hoop early, but the Hoosiers could not make their three-pointers, going 3-for-16 from beyond the arc and shooting just 38.5 percent from the field overall.

Oklahoma was led by forward Skylar Vann with 20 points, but the Sooners managed to go just 4-for-25 from three-point land and shoot only 35.1 percent.

“They just hit big shots,” Vann said. “I think we had great shot opportunities, they just didn’t go in at the end of the game, so you can’t be mad about that, nothing you can do about it.”

Moren was proud of IU’s grit rising to the moment.

“I told ‘em that I thought the team that wanted it the most was going to win it tonight and I thought that clearly especially in the fourth they (the Hoosiers) were a team that really wanted to win,” she said.

While Holmes, as she so often has during her IU career, made pivotal plays in the clutch, other cast members took turns with key plays and Indiana committed just four turnovers.

Sydney Parrish’s stat line was crucial with 15 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists. Chloe Moore-McNeil had 9 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists. Yarden Garzon had an off-shooting night, but scored 7 points with 5 assists and made key buckets late.

Sara Scalia, who burned Fairfield for 27 points, was well-covered by Oklahoma, hitting just one three-pointer, adding to her school single-season record to reach 101. However, Scalia, who is about a 90 percent free-throw shooter, made clinching foul shots when the Sooners scrambled to come back and scored 12 points.

Parrish said going unbeaten at home was special.

“We said it every single game that we played at home that we need to protect Assembly Hall,” she said, “protect our home court, protect the Hall, and we did that this year.”

Moren praises “Hoosier Nation” for coming out strong every game (attendance averaged more than 10,000) and the players felt the group run into the stands to mingle with the masses showed their appreciation.

In a basketball season across the country when fans were admonished for charging to the court after big wins, this was a reverse rush

“It was awesome,” Garzon said. “They’re there every game for us.”