Into the Lions Den (1-31-03)

1/31/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

News Update

January 31, 2002

Hoosiers Head To Iowa

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 Penn State Game Notes CLICK HERE!  Player Notes CLICK HERE!

Bennett's Pocketbook Takes A Hit
Indiana head coach Kathi Bennett made a pledge to donate $5,000 of her own money to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation if the Hoosiers set a new single-game attendance record when they hosted Wisconsin on January 24.
The existing record of 5,503 fans was shattered in the contest, as 7,986 people came through the gates for the game.

Finals Rematch
The Indiana women's basketball team (9-9 overall, 2-5 Big Ten) heads to State College, Pa., to face No. 14/15 Penn State in a rematch of the 2002 Big Ten Tournament championship game.
A crowd of over 11,000 is expected for the game, which is set to begin at 1 p.m. (EST)and will be televised by Fox Sports Chicago.
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 Penn State game.

History Not Friendly
Indiana has struggled with Penn State over the years, losing 17 of the 20 games played between the two teams.
The Hoosiers have never won in State College, compiling an 0-10 record, dating back to 1981-82.

Ranked Teams Beware
Although history may not be on Indiana's side for Sunday's game, it bears mentioning that under Kathi Bennett, Indiana has defeated two top-10 teams, three top-15 teams and six top-25 teams. IU is 4-1 in its last five games vs. ranked Big Ten teams.

When We Last Met
The Hoosiers claimed a 75-72 win over the Lady Lions in the championship game of the 2002 Big Ten Tournament in the last meeting between the two teams.
Heather Cassady scored 21 points to lead Indiana. Among players on the current roster, both Jenny DeMuth and Allison Skapin scored six points in the game, with Jill Hartman adding five.

Earlier This Week...
Indiana is coming off a 78-62 loss at Iowa.
The Hoosiers turned in one of their better offensive performances in some time, hanging with the high-scoring Hawkeyes for much of the game.
Iowa went into the half with a 36-33 lead, but outscored the Hoosiers, 42-29 in the second half to seal the victory.

A Break From The Norm
Indiana's recent pattern has been poor first halves followed by solid second halves. Thursday's game was an exception, as the Hoosiers matched a season-high by draining 14 field goals in the first half, but was 2-for-17 from three-point range in the second half.

Bodine Breaks Out
The Hoosiers may have lost the game, but senior point guard Kristen Bodine broke from her slump in the contest, establishing a new Indiana career-high with 21 points in the contest. Prior to Thursday's game, the Butler transfer had missed 20 of her last 26 shots from the field. However, she was 9-for-16 from the field against the Hawkeyes.

Hartman Also Re-Emerges
Jill Hartman also had a nice game for the Hoosiers, scoring 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field.
The senior fell just one point shy of matching her career-high point total against a Big Ten opponent and established a new season-high scoring total. Prior to Thursday's game

Valentin Has Made Last 24...And Counting
Freshman guard and Bloomington native Cyndi Valentin has drained her last 24 free throws over the last 11 games.
Earlier in the season, Jenny DeMuth sunk 18 straight and Kali Kullberg drained 12 in a row. All three rank in the top six in school history.

Longest Free-Throw Streaks at Indiana
1) Kristi Green (1998) - 31 consecutive
2) Cyndi Valentin (2003) - 24 consecutive...streak still active
3) Jenny DeMuth (2002) - 18 consecutive
3) Lisa Furlin (1993) - 18 consecutive
5) Kristi Green (1996-97) - 14 consecutive
6) Kali Kullberg (2002) - 12 consecutive

Skid Row
The Hoosiers have not been able to put it together lately, dropping five straight games for only the second time in the Kathi Bennett era.

Why The Skid?
The biggest reason for Indiana's troubles in recent games has been the Hoosiers' inability to get stops on the defensive end. A team that usually prides itself on defense, Indiana has allowed opponents to score 69 or more points in four of its last five games.

Struggling Away From Home
Indiana has played 10 games away from Assembly Hall this year (road and neutral site games), putting together a 3-7 record. The Hoosiers have not won a game outside of Bloomington in 2003, with their last win coming over Illinois State on December 30.
IU has dropped four straight on the road.

Why The Struggles Away From Home?
When a team struggles like this away from home, there are always several factors involved. Here are some that have all contributed this year...
 No Hoosier averages double-figure scoring away from home
 IU averages 15.6 three-point attempts per game on the road, but has only converted on .295 pct. of its attempts.
 The Hoosiers have a .657 percentage from the free throw line.
 When Cyndi Valentin is excluded, IU shoots .615 from the line as a team.
 Indiana turns the ball over 21.4 times per game on the road.
 The Hoosiers have scored 70 or more points only once
 The starting five averages only 43.0 ppg.
 IU has committed two turnovers for every one assist.

Slow Starts Are Costly
Part of Indiana's recent problems stem from the fact that the Hoosiers are getting behind early in games. In the last five games, opponents have outscored Indiana, 170-128 in the first half.
Adding to that is the fact that the Hoosiers are 1-8 when trailing at the half this year, including an 0-5 mark in Big Ten play when trailing at the half.
The Hoosiers have trailed at the half of each of their last five games, and are averaging 25.6 points in the first half of their last five games.
In Indiana's nine wins this year, the Hoosiers have outscored the opposition, 278-231 in the first half. In Indiana's nine losses, the Hoosiers have been outscored in the first half by a margin of 268-233.

Adventures In Free-Throw Shooting
Free throw shooting has been a very real problem for the Hoosiers all year, as they rank 11th in the Big Ten with a .668 team percentage.
Indiana was 11-for-25 against Wisconsin from the line, including a 7-for-20 showing in the second half.
Earlier in the year, IU had a 10-for-23 showing against Purdue and a 5-for-13 effort against Illinois. Both of those games were decided by five points or less.

Not Putting It Together
Indiana has had several different players have big games this year, but has only had one game in which multiple players had good games on the same day (vs. Ball State, when Jenny DeMuth and Lisa Eckart had 24 points apiece and Kristen Bodine went for 15 points and 12 assists.)
Outside of that game, however, Indiana has only had one game in which two players scored 16 or more points in the same game (vs. South Florida, when Eckart scored 17 points and DeMuth had 20.)

Attendance is Up
A school-record 7,986 fans came through the gates of Assembly Hall to watch Friday's contest. The Hoosiers have already set two of the school's top seven single-game home attendance marks this year.

Top Ten Single-Game Attendance Records
1) 7,986 vs. Wisconsin 1/24/03
2) 5,503 vs. Purdue 1/29/1999
3) 5,003 vs. Purdue 1/25/1998
4) 3,414 vs. Purdue 1/7/2001
5) 3,213 vs. Michigan 1/16/1998
6) 3,004 vs. Ohio State 1/31/1997
7) 2,845 vs. Ohio State 1/12/2003
8) 2,728 vs. Purdue 3/6/1992
9) 2,569 vs. Purdue 2/10/1995
10) 2,268 vs. Ohio State 2/18/1996

Recruiting Class Ranked
Indiana's incoming crop of freshmen has been tabbed as a top-25 recruiting class by All-Star Girls Report recruiting service.
The Hoosier crop was ranked 23rd nationally and is headlined by Indianapolis native Carrie Smith (Brebeuf Jesuit) and by 6'7 Canadian Sarah McKay.
Monroeville native Leah Enterline (Heritage HS) also joins the class, along with Lincoln, Neb., product Jamey Chapman and Minneapolis' Annika Boyd.

This Year's Freshmen Shining As Well
Indiana head coach Kathi Bennett has started a true freshman in every game this year, and the freshman class has been one of the Hoosiers' most productive units.

Scoring By Class
Class (# of Players) PPG RPG APG
Seniors (5) 26.0 11.9 6.9
Juniors (1) 1.6 2.8 0.4
Sophomores (2) 13.6 5.9 2.5
Freshmen (5) 21.6 15.9 2.2

Don't Count Them Out
Indiana has erased large second-half deficits recently, coming back from 10 points down with 9:05 remaining to upset No. 23 Ohio State. In the Hoosiers' game against Northwestern three days earlier, they erased a seven-point halftime deficit to win, 62-52.
The Hoosiers have trailed in the second half in five of their nine wins this year.

More About Indiana's Comebacks
Ball State-67, Indiana-62 with 4:03 remaining W, 103-95 (2 OT)
Northwestern-31, Indiana-23 with 19:28 remaining W, 62-52
Ohio State-41, Indiana-31 with 9:05 remaining W, 54-50
Michigan-45, Indiana-29 with 16:50 remaining L, 71-68

Injury Update
Freshman forward April Williams remains on the sidelines with a partial tear of the MCL in her knee. Williams sustained the injury in practice on January 14. She should return in early to mid February.

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.
With Kullberg 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.

Amazing But True
With the ACL injuries to both Kullberg and Stephenson, Indiana has seen three point guards go down with torn ACLs in a span of just over 12 months.
Kathi Bennett, whose playing career ended with a knee injury of her own, has seen injuries become a recurring theme during her time at Indiana.

Defense Tops Big Ten
Kathi Bennett is a coach that stresses defense, and her Hoosiers have responded. Indiana leads the Big Ten in field goal percentage defense and three-point field goal defense, limiting the opposition to .378 shooting from the field and .297 shooting from beyond the arc.
In addition, the Hoosiers rank second in the conference behind only Ohio State in scoring defense, limiting the opposition to only 61.4 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.
Against Iowa, Kristen Bodine became the fourth different Hoosier this year to score more than 20 points in a game, joining Jenny DeMuth, Lisa Eckart and Cyndi Valentin.
Five different Hoosiers have scored 17 or more points in a game this year, with eight players reaching double figures.
On top of that, four different Hoosiers have posted double-doubles this year and eight different Hoosiers have led the team in scoring in a game this year.

Kullberg Named Athlete Of The Year
Freshman point guard Kali Kullberg was named as the Orono Sun-Sailor's Athlete of the Year for 2002.
The Orono, Minnesota, native finished her career at Orono High School as the all-time leading scorer in school history (either boys or girls), despite playing with two broken wrists during her junior season.
Kullberg is out for the year after tearing her ACL in practice on December 17.

Bennett Coaches 400th
When the Hoosiers faced Illinois on January 2, it marked the 400th game of Kathi Bennett's career as a head coach.
In her 15 years as a head coach, she has won a Division III National Championship, a Big Ten Tournament Title, seven conference championships, made eight NCAA Tournament appearances and has five 20-win seasons to her credit.

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

Road Weary
The Hoosiers 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.

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.

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
Indiana hosts Minnesota at 1 p.m. on Sunday at Assembly Hall.
The game will be televised regionally by Fox Sports Chicago, with Dave Eanet calling the action and Toni Roesch providing analysis.
As is the case with all Indiana games, it can also be heard live in Bloomington on 105.1 WHCC Radio with Jeremy Gray calling all the action.