Indiana Women’s Basketball Begins Practice For Foreign Tour

By Elias Arnett
IUHoosiers.com

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The sound of 11 different basketballs, whistles being blown and claps of encouragement were audible on Thursday afternoon inside Cook Hall. Not typical on a steamy day in Bloomington in July.

It's because the Indiana Women's Basketball team is preparing for its first foreign tour since 2009 when the team will travel to Italy in early August. Allowed once every four years, the Hoosiers will visit the cities of Rome, Vatican City, Florence, Pisa and Venice, hoping to create fluidity and chemistry that transfers to the court. They'll play three games against Italian opponents and an unprecedented advantage come the start of the 2017-18 season on November 11 against Arkansas State.

Returning four players who saw the floor last season, IU is led by seniors Tyra Buss and Amanda Cahill, junior Kym Royster and sophomore Bre Wickware. Buss and Cahill are the undoubted leaders, leading the team in scoring with 18.6 points and 14.9 points, respectively, and writing their names all over the record book.

They've embraced seven newcomers, as two - Ali Patberg and Brenna Wise - will have to sit out the season due to transfer rules. Patberg came from Notre Dame while Wise came from Pittsburg. This puts the five freshmen - Bendu Yeaney, Keyanna Warthen, Linsey Marchese, Jaelynn Penn and Alexis Johnson - in the limelight.

"Right now it's beneficial," head coach Teri Moren said about the upcoming trip. "We have seven new kids, five freshmen and two transfers, so these 10 days of practice are going to be really critical for us to get a jump start in terms of understanding the verbiage, the communications, what we call certain things and being acclimated to how we're going to defend. We're going to put a little offensive stuff in but it's going to be little about basketball, it's going to be more about being together, our team chemistry, and bonding."

Normally, the team wouldn't get things rolling until late September or early October, when practices for the season officially begin. However, the Hoosiers were awarded 10 practice days before the trip, with the first practice officially taking place on Thursday.

To freshman guard Jaelynn Penn, chemistry is one of the most important factors to a team, so being able to get on the court with her teammates now rather than later is an added bonus.

"Playing together so we can have that chemistry, to get together and to have that experience together before we come out in the real season and play," Penn said when asked how this team would bond before the school year.

Cahill, undoubtedly one of the leaders of this team, is looking forward to the upcoming trip as well.

"Not only will we be spending a lot of time together flying and being in the hotel, it's just a lot of extra time where we can go through new experiences with each other. To get these extra practices and games over there give us some on-court experience and bonding which will be helpful," Cahill said.

One way Moren likes to create the bond between her players is with energy during practice. Each practice and each drill is full of clapping, cheering and words of encouragement that echo through the walls of Cook Hall from every player and coach.

Silence isn't an option.

"There's no question we demand that energy every day. In our program, we always talk about the controllables, what you can control every day," Moren said. "Your energy level, your effort level, your ability to communicate are things that you can control, so that's what we demand every day and that's the expectation."

For the freshman, they know this will be a challenge, but it's nothing they can't handle.

"Sometimes we sit around and talk about how we have to work hard and prove ourselves because we might get playing time," Penn said about the freshman creating their separate bond. "We're all going to be a factor on this team."

Moren believes that these 10 practices and the foreign tour are more than just beneficial on the court.

"Especially with the freshmen, there's one thing that's great about summer access is that they're here on campus, they're getting acclimated to college life, to Bloomington and where their classes are. They're training with us and Kevin (Konopasek), our strength and conditioning coach. There's a lot of really good stuff that's happening right now for them. It's different for them because once they get back it won't be like starting fresh and brand new, they kind of know how we do things around here," Moren said.

Even though both Patberg and Wise won't be able to participate during the regular season, they will be able to take the court while on the tour, gaining precious experience that could transfer to next season.

There's no doubt that most of the attention will be on how the freshman develop, but it's crucial for the four returning players to be there for guidance in times of need.

"Everyone gets along with each other really well.," Penn said. "We all look up to the upperclassmen and they do a good job leading us through our first experiences of college,"

The team will practice together nine more times inside Cook Hall before departing for Europe in 19 days, providing an experience that the Hoosiers will undoubtedly use as an advantage this November.

Indiana University Athletics

Indiana Women’s Basketball Begins Practice For Foreign Tour

Players Mentioned

Tyra Buss

Amanda Cahill

Alexis Johnson

Linsey Marchese

Ali Patberg

Jaelynn Penn

Kym Royster

Keyanna Warthen

Bre Wickware

Brenna Wise

Bendu Yeaney

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