Indiana University Athletics
HOOSIERS PLAY THREE GAMES IN THREE DAYS
12/15/1998 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
HOOSIERS PLAY THREE GAMES IN THREE DAYS
THIS WEEK - The Hoosiers will play three games in three days this week, beginning with Cleveland State in the opening game of the Hampton Inn and Fazoli's Classic Friday, Dec. 18, at 6 p.m., in Assembly Hall. Then, on Saturday, Dec. 19, the Hoosiers will face Vanderbilt in the Big Ten/SEC Challenge which will be broadcast live on ESPN2 at noon. Indiana closes out the weekend playing either Tennessee Tech or Southwestern Louisiana Sunday, Dec. 20, in the final day of the Hampton Inn and Fazoli's Classic.
BIG TEN/SEC CHALLENGE - Indiana will play in the Big Ten/SEC Challenge for the second time Saturday. Indiana's other challenge appearance was a 71-64 victory over Kentucky on Dec. 8, 1995. Saturday's noon tipoff will be broadcast live from Bloomington on ESPN2. Dave Barnett will call the action while Fran Harris will provide color commentary. Following the IU vs. Vanderbilt game, Illinois will host Florida at 2 p.m., from Champaign, Ill., in the second game of the double-header on ESPN2.
THEY WILL BE ASSEMBLING IN THE HALL - Indiana's Assembly Hall will be a busy place this weekend as the IU women and men play single games Saturday (Vanderbilt) and Sunday (San Francisco), respectively, in addition to the four tournament games. Also, just to make things interesting, Assembly Hall will host commencement exercises Saturday afternoon.
THE HOOSIERS - Indiana won the Hatter Classic and improved its record to 8-3 this past weekend with wins over Wright State (80-48) and Alcorn State (78-54). The Hoosiers played the tournament at Stetson University in Deland, Fla. Senior Cindy Kerns was named MVP of the tournament after scoring 25 points and hauling down nine rebounds. Teammates Jill Chapman and Kay Morgan were also named to the all-tourney team for their performances.
LEADERBOARD - The Hoosiers are currently averaging 72.8 points and 37.6 rebounds per game while shooting 46 percent from the field. Individually, Cindy Kerns leads the Hoosiers' offense, averaging 13.8 points per game. Freshman Jill Chapman and junior Kay Morgan follow with 12.0 and 11.9 scoring averages per game, respectively.
STREAKING HOOSIERS - Indiana is currently on a six-game win streak. The school record for most consecutive wins is 15-straight set in 1971-72. Under Coach Izard, the most-consecutive wins is 11 set during the 1992-93 season.
VS. CLEVELAND STATE - Cleveland State enters the tournament with a 4-3 record after defeating Niagara University 91-66 on Dec. 12. Junior forward Audra Cook leads her team in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 17.6 points and 12.6 rebounds per game. Teammate Mahogany Green is averaging 12.1 points per game. As a team, the Vikings are averaging an impressive 83.7 points per game. Duffy Burns is in his fourth season as head coach and carries a 39-50 school and career record. The Series: The Hoosiers won the only game the two teams have played against each other which was a 65-33 decision on Nov. 25, 1988.
ON TENNESSEE TECH - The Golden Eaglettes are 2-4 on the season with their most recent setback coming to Mississippi 65-50 Dec. 12. Tech led Ole Miss 41-21 at the half, but only manage to score nine second half points. Jasper, Ind., native Diane Seng leads Tech in scoring, averaging 13.3 points per game while freshman Janet Holt leads the squad in rebounding with a 6.3 per game average. Coach Bill Worrell is in his 13th season at the helm of the Golden Eaglettes with a 245-117 career record. The Series: Tennessee Tech leads the series 3-0 against IU with the two schools last meeting Jan. 4, 1978.
ABOUT SOUTHWESTERN LOUISIANA - Prior to SLU's Wednesday night's game vs. McNeese State, the Ragin' Cajuns were off to a tough start at 0-7. Offensively, the team has struggled, averaging just 53.9 points per game while shooting 35 percent from the field. Senior forward Tiffany Green leads SLU, averaging 12.3 points per game. Gay Nix is in her third season with the program and holds a 12-49 school and career record. The Series: Indiana and SLU have never played each other.
DID YOU KNOW?- Indiana Coach Jim Izard was once a Ragin' Cajun. Coach Izard coached SLU to an 18-10 record during the 1982-83 season.
VANDERBILT VISITS ASSEMBLY HALL - The Commodores have lost a string of three-straight games and enter Saturday's game with a 3-4 record. Vandy has posted wins over Michigan, Western Michigan and Hampton, but have lost to No. 19 Duke, Oklahoma State, Mississippi State and No. 24 UC-Santa Barbara. Junior Beth Ostendorf leads her team in scoring, averaging 13.7 points per game while junior Jennifer Holmes leads in rebounding with 7.7 boards per game. Sophomore guard Ashley Smith averages 7.7 assists per game while only committing 2.7 turnovers. Jim Foster is in his eighth season with the program and carries a 171-59 school record. The Series: Saturday's game will be the first meeting between the two schools.
HEAD COACH JIM IZARD - Head Coach Jim Izard is in his 11th season at the helm of the Indiana program where he owns a 173-126 (.579) overall record and a 77-97 (.445) mark in the Big Ten Conference. As Indiana's all-time winningest coach, Izard has guided his teams to nine winning seasons, two NCAA post-season tournament appearances, a runner-up finish in the NWIT post-season tournament and most recently, a trip to the Final Four of the WNIT last season. His 17-year career record stands at 335-175 (.657).
ASSIST ANGELS - Guards Kay Morgan and Dani Thrush combined for 26 assists this past weekend at the Hatter Classic. Against Wright State, Morgan dished out a career-high nine assists while Thrush delivered six on target. Most impressive was that for the two games, Morgan registered 15 assists to just three turnovers while Thrush dished out 11 assists with only one turnover.
THE PASSING GAME - Indiana is averaging 16.8 assists per game compared to its opponents 12.5. Dani Thrush leads the squad, averaging 4.5 assists per game while Kay Morgan averages 4.1 per game. In addition, Morgan boasts a 2:1 assist to turnover ratio.
OFF THE BENCH - Senior Summar Maines has become a key sixth-person off of the bench for the Hoosiers. Maines, a 6-0 forward, has come in to lead the team in rebounding in two of its last three games with 20 boards and has also contributed 24 points.
MISS ALL-TOURNAMENT - Freshman center Jill Chapman is three-for-three on making all-tournament teams this season. Having played just 11 collegiate games, Chapman earned all-tournament honors in the Preseason WNIT, Hatter Classic and Full-O-Pep Classic.
THAT RPI - According to the RPI Rankings dated through Dec. 9, the Hoosiers are 15th. Of the Big Ten schools, only Ohio State is ranked higher - at sixth.
TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT - Eight of IU's nine games this season have been decided by 10 or fewer points, including five games settled by five or less. When games are decided by 10 or fewer points, the Hoosiers are 5-3.
CLUTCH KERNS - Senior co-captain Cindy Kerns is not only one of IU's go-to players, but also one of its clutch players down the stretch. Kerns, who leads IU in scoring (13.8 ppg) and rebounding (6.9 rpg), has scored in double figures in all but two games and has led all scorers and rebounders in four games.
TOUGH DEFENSE - While boasting a 39 percent field goal percentage defense, the Hoosiers have yet to allow an opponent to shoot 50 percent or above from the field this season.
LONG DISTANCE THREAT - As Indiana's explosive 3-point shooter, junior Kay Morgan has scored in double-figure in seven of IU's last eight games. Currently, she leads the Big Ten with 26 3-pointers and ranks sixth in 3-point field goal percentage at 41 percent.
LITTLE GREEN GENERAL - As IU's four-year starting point guard, senior Kristi Green continues to pound the hardwood, averaging 36 minutes of court time per game. The 5-2 Green has played 3,303 minutes in 96 games for a 34.4 minutes per game career average.
SHE'S GOT GAME - Senior Dani Thrush's play this season has been intense, aggressive and fun to watch. The 5-9 guard currently leads the team in assists (4.5 per game) and steals (2.0 per game) while averaging 8.7 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.
FREE THROW WOES - Traditionally an excellent free throw shooting team, the Hoosiers have gotten off to a shaky start, connecting on just 65 percent of their shots from the charity stripe. Last season IU started off slow also, shooting just 63 percent from the free throw line before rebounding with a school record 75 percent season average.
AROUND THE BIG TEN - The Hoosiers are currently second in the Big Ten
in 3-point shooting, averaging 6.3 treys per game. Individually, Dani Thrush
ranks third in the league with 2.6 steals per game and fifth in assists
with 4.5 per game. Jill Chapman leads the league in field goal percentage
with a .621 clip and is fifth in blocked shots with 1.1 per game. Cindy
Kerns ranks third in field goal percentage (.567) while Kay Morgan is sixth
in 3-point field goal percentage (.406) and 10th in assists with 4.1 per
game.
