Indiana University Athletics
Big Ten Season Starts (12-31-02)
12/31/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
December 31, 2002
Hoosiers Back In Action
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Bring On The Big Ten
The Indiana women's basketball team (7-3 overall) opens its Big Ten season when it travels to Champaign for a battle with Illinois at 8 p.m. (EST).
The game can be heard live on the radio on 105.1 WHCC Radio in Bloomington, with Jeremy Gray calling all the action.
The broadcast can also be accessed live by visiting iuhoosiers.com, then going to the women's basketball schedule page. Once on the schedule page, click on the "listen live" icon for the Illinois game.
Series History
Indiana and Illinois have met 45 times in the past, with Indiana owning a 25-20 all-time advantage. Illinois has dominated the series recently, winning 10 of the last 12 meetings.
Indiana won the last meeting, claiming a 70-66 win in Champaign last year.
The Hoosiers have not won consecutive games over the Illini in Champaign since the 1984-85 and 1985-86 seasons.
Bennett Undefeated In Openers
Kathi Bennett is 2-0 in Big Ten openers as the head coach at Indiana. Both of Bennett's wins came over Ohio State.
Bennett Coaching 400th
When the Hoosiers take the court against Illinois, Kathi Bennett will be coaching in the 400th game of her career.
Bennett has a 268-131 career record (.672 pct) in her 15 years as a head coach. She has a Division III National Championship, a Big Ten Tournament Title, seven conference championships, eight NCAA Tournament appearances and five 20-win seasons to her credit.
Back To The Home State
Kankakee, Ill., native Jamie Gathing returns to her home state when the Hoosiers face Illinois. Gathing attended Kankakee High School, where she was a three-time conference MVP and once hauled in a school-record 29 rebounds in a single game.
Ball Protection Improving
Indiana has won four of its last five games, thanks in large part to better ball protection. In the Hoosiers' last five games, they have averaged 15.6 turnovers per game, down from their overall season average of 18.1 turnovers per contest.
Valentin Living Up To Hype
Freshman Cyndi Valentin came to Indiana as one of the top in-state recruits to play for the Hoosiers in some time. The Bloomington South HS graduate has made her mark instantly, climbing into the starting lineup in just her ninth game at the collegiate level.
Valentin went off in Indiana's last game, scoring a career-high 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field. Valentin's .909 free throw percentage ranks third in the Big Ten, and she is second on the team in scoring at 10.8 points per game.
Who's It Going To Come From?
One of the best things that Kathi Bennett has had to work with this year is the fact that scoring punch has come from several different sources this year.
Cyndi Valentin became the third different Hoosier this year to score more than 20 points in a game, joining Jenny DeMuth and Lisa Eckart.
Five different Hoosiers have scored 17 or more points in a game this year, with seven players recording double-figure scoring performances.
On top of that, four different Hoosiers have posted double-doubles this year.
Everyone's A Threat Lately
Indiana has been led in scoring by a different player in each of its last six games (Valentin vs. Illinois State, DeMuth vs. South Florida, Eckart vs. Purdue, Angela Hawkins vs. North Texas, Kali Kullberg vs. Georgetown and April Williams vs. Florida State.)
Balancing Act
To further illustrate the balance that Indiana has enjoyed this year, seven different Hoosiers have led the team in scoring in the team's 10 contests, with only Jenny DeMuth pacing the squad more than twice.
Freshmen Lead Indiana On The Road
Freshmen Angela Hawkins and Cyndi Valentin have led the way for the Hoosiers on the road this year. Hawkins averages 9.0 points and 11.3 rebounds per game on the road, while Valentin leads all Hoosiers with 12.7 points per game in road contests.
Freshmen Starting
Indiana head coach Kathi Bennett has started a true freshman in every game this year.
Power forward Brigett Branson got the start against Wofford, Ball State and Eastern Kentucky, with center Angela Hawkins getting into the starting lineup for the first time against Nevada and starting every game since.
Kali Kullberg made her first collegiate start against North Texas, then came back to start against Purdue before tearing her ACL in practice and being forced to the sidelines.
Cyndi Valentin climbed into the starting lineup against South Florida, and is possibly the most explosive player of the bunch.
Indiana's Freshmen This Year
Indiana is a team that relies heavily on freshmen. There are a total of five true freshmen on the roster. Four of Indiana's freshmen (Brigett Branson, Angela Hawkins, Kali Kullberg and Cyndi Valentin) have already been in the starting lineup this year, with Branson becoming the first true freshman to start her Indiana debut since current Detroit Shock player Jill Chapman in 1998.
R and R Leads To IU W's
Indiana has actually had a bit of a break in its otherwise brutal schedule, playing only two games in a span of 18 days. The Hoosiers won both of those contests, claiming victories over South Florida and Illinois State.
The End Of A Journey
Thursday's game against Illinois is the last in a stretch of games in which Indiana plays seven of nine contests away from Assembly Hall.
After Thursday, Indiana will have played only two home games in a span of 46 days (vs. Georgetown and South Florida).
Road Weary
The Hoosiers have logged some serious miles during the nonconference portion of the schedule. After opening the season at home, Indiana traveled to Anchorage, Alaska for the Great Alaska Shootout. The Hoosiers then visited Tallahassee, Fla., to battle Florida State before returning home to host Georgetown. The Hoosiers concluded their odyssey by traveling to Denton, Texas to do battle with North Texas.
The Hoosiers traveled 5,662 miles to and from Anchorage, then 1,596 miles to and from Tallahassee, only to travel an additional 1,788 miles to and from Denton. All tolled, Indiana covered 9,046 miles over a span of 18 days.
Bitten By The Injury Bug
Starting guard Kali Kullberg went down in practice on December 17 with a torn ACL and is out for the season. She underwent surgery on December 30, and will not be able to take a medical redshirt, as she played in too many games to qualify.
At the time of her injury, Kullberg averaged 5.1 points per game and had set an Indiana freshman record by draining a perfect 12-of-12 free throws in a single game against Georgetown.
With Kullberg now out of the lineup, head coach Kathi Bennett is faced with the daunting task of coaching with only one point guard on her roster (Kristen Bodine, who tore her ACL last year and is still not quite at 100 percent herself).
Earlier in the season, junior LeeAnn Stephenson also suffered a torn ACL in practice. The quickest player on the Indiana roster, Stephenson underwent surgery and is redshirting the season.
Eckart Worth The Wait
Indiana was forced to wait for Lisa Eckart after the senior transferred from Evansville following a stellar three-year career with the Aces. Eckart, who redshirted last year due to NCAA transfer rules, had major off-season back surgery on top of that, and is just now starting to show people that she is worth the wait.
Eckart is averaging 13.3 points and 10.7 rebounds in her last three games, and has made six of her 14 three-point attempts during that span.
Hoosiers The Big Ten's Best
Indiana leads the Big Ten in field goal percentage defense (.336 pct.), three-point field goal percentage defense (.244 pct.) and rebounding (44.7 per game).
Charting Hawkins Among Indiana's Best
Freshman center Angela Hawkins is averaging 10.1 rebounds per game through Indiana's nine contests and is on pace to haul in 263 rebounds during the regular season.
To crack into Indiana's all-time single-season top 10, Hawkins would need to grab 242 boards. Of the players currently on the school's single-season rebounding top 10, only one (Denise Jackson) accomplished the feat as a freshman.
Jackson's school freshman record for single-season rebounds stands at 274, which she recorded in a 1980-81 season in which the Hoosiers played 35 games. Indiana has 26 regular-season games scheduled this year.
Hawkins Flirts With Single-Game Record
Hawkins' 18-rebound effort against North Texas was the second-highest single-game total for a freshman ever at Indiana (Denise Jackson's school record of 22 rebounds in a game came during her freshman year.)
Bennett Second-Fastest to 40
Indiana head coach Kathi Bennett picked up her 40th win at the helm of the Hoosier program when Indiana handed Eastern Kentucky a 61-49 defeat on November 25.
Having reached the 40-win mark in her 65th game as the head coach of the Hoosiers, she became the second-fastest to 40 wins in Indiana history.
Fastest to 40 wins at Indiana
1) Bea Gorton (1971-76) 46 games
2) Kathi Bennett (2000-present) 65 games
3) Jim Izard (1988-2000) 71 games
4) Maryalyce Jeremiah (1980-85) 73 games
5) Joy Malcholdi (1976-80) 82 games
Capitalizing From The Line
The Hoosiers attempted a season-high 40 free-throws against Georgetown, draining 30.
The 40 free-throw attempts marked the second-highest single-game total in school history.
DeMuth Sets School Record
Sophomore guard Jenny DeMuth set a new school record in the Hoosiers' 103-95 win over Ball State by draining all 14 of her free-throw attempts in the contest.
The prior record was held by Lisa Furlin, who went 12-for-12 in a game against Wisconsin in 1993.
Denise Jackson holds the school record for total free throws made in a game with 15.
Kullberg From the Line
Freshman guard Kali Kullberg's 12-for-12 effort from the free-throw line against Georgetown was one of the best single-game performances from the free-throw line in school history.
She became only the third player ever at Indiana to have converted on all of her free-throw attempts (min. 12) in a game (Lisa Furlin in 1993 and Jenny DeMuth earlier this year).
All-Tournament
Both Jenny DeMuth and Kristen Bodine earned All-Tournament team honors at the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout.
DeMuth averaged 20.5 points and 9.0 rebounds in the two games in Anchorage, including a 26-point, seven-rebound performance in the championship game.
Bodine averaged 10.5 points and 4.5 assists in the two games, including a 17-point showing against Eastern Kentucky.
Lopsided Win
When the Hoosiers defeated Wofford, 90-34 to open the season, they tied for the third-most lopsided win in school history (56 points).
The margin of victory in that contest was the largest for an Indiana team since the Hoosiers rolled to a 98-42 win over Ball State in 1991.
Making Their Mark
This year's Hoosiers have already marked up the record books.
In IU's 103-95 win over Ball State on November 23, the Hoosiers tied the single-game team record for assists with 29, led by Kristen Bodine. Bodine had 12 assists in the contest, a mark that tied her for third place on the school's single-game chart for an individual.
Indiana's 103 points in that contest tied for the second-highest single-game outburst, behind the 110 points the Hoosiers put on the board against Alabama-Birmingham in 1991.
World Traveler
Indiana's travel situation in the early part of the season may seem a bit much, but it is nothing new to senior forward Jill Hartman. Hartman toured Europe this past summer as a member of the Big Ten All-Star team that compiled a perfect 5-0 record.
Home Grown Hoosiers
Since taking over at the helm of the Indiana program prior to the 2000-01 season, Kathi Bennett has made a point of bringing in some of the top talent from the state of Indiana. On the current roster, Bennett has brought in the runner-up for the state's 2001 Miss Basketball award (Jenny DeMuth) and four Indiana All-Stars (DeMuth, Kristen Bodine, Brigett Branson and Cyndi Valentin.)
Valentin's Day
Freshman Cyndi Valentin made quite an impression in her first go-around in front of the Indiana faithful. The local product from Bloomington South High School won the three-point shooting contest at Midnight Madness in front of over 12,000 fans at Assembly Hall.
Valentin emerged from the women's half of the bracket by edging Kristen Bodine, then defeated men's champion Ryan Tapak in the event final.
What's Next
The Big Ten schedule rolls on for the Hoosiers when they return home to Assembly Hall at 7 p.m. on January 9 to face Northwestern.
Indiana and Northwestern met one time last year, with the Hoosiers claiming a 74-52 win in last year's regular-season finale.
The game can be heard live in Bloomington on 105.1 WHCC Radio with Jeremy Gray calling all the action.
Fans outside of Bloomington can listen to the game by logging on to iuhoosiers.com, then going to the women's basketball homepage and clicking on "Listen Live" on the women's basketball schedule page.
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