Indiana University Athletics
IU Prepares for Northwestern (1-6-03)
1/6/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
January 6, 2003
DeMuth Leads Indiana Against Northwestern
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Wildcats Visit The Hall
The Indiana women's basketball team (7-4 overall, 0-1 Big Ten) returns home to Assembly Hall on Thursday, when it hosts Northwestern (6-7 overall; 1-1 Big Ten) for a 7 p.m. (EST) tip-off.
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 Northwestern have met 47 times in the past, with the Wildcats owning a 26-21 advantage.
The two teams met only once last year, with the Hoosiers claiming a 74-52 win at Assembly Hall in the regular-season finale.
Indiana has won the last four meetings between the two teams, and has not lost to Northwestern at Assembly Hall since 1999.
Bennett Undefeated In Openers
Kathi Bennett is 2-0 in Big Ten home openers as the head coach at Indiana. In Bennett's first year at Indiana, the Hoosiers claimed a 74-71 win over Michigan State in their Big Ten home opener. Last year, Indiana downed Ohio State, 64-52 in the Big Ten home opener.
Perfect At Home
Indiana enters Thursday's contest with a perfect 4-0 record at Assembly Hall this year.
Dating back to last year, the Hoosiers have won six straight and eight of their last nine at home.
DeMuth Gets It Going
Jenny DeMuth is a player that can shoot the ball from long range. During her two-year career, however, she has struggled getting her shots to fall during the games.
That is starting to change, as evidenced by DeMuth's 3-for-4 showing against Illinois last week. On the year, DeMuth has made seven of her 26 three-point attempts (.269 pct).
In her last four games, DeMuth has converted on 6-of-12 from three-point range.
More From DeMuth
Creating a niche for herself as a blue-collar player that can score, DeMuth leads the team in scoring at 13.5 points per game. The sophomore from Highland, Ind., has taken more shots than any other Hoosier, yet still leads the team in shooting percentage at .476.
DeMuth averages 6.1 rebounds per game and has a team-high 19 steals. She has recorded two double-doubles and has reached the 20-point scoring mark in three games this year.
DeMuth Projections
Jenny DeMuth is on pace to become one of the greatest scorers in Indiana history. If she continues on the pace she is on, she will finish her career with 1,276 points. That mark would place her 10th in school history.
Valentin A Star In The Making
Bloomington native Cyndi Valentin averages 10.5 points per game going into Thursday's contest against Northwestern.
Valentin would become only the 15th player in school history to average a double-figure scoring mark in her freshman year and the first since Jill Chapman averaged 14.2 points per game in 1998-99.
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.
Defense Tops Big Ten
Kathi Bennett is a coach that stresses defense, and her Hoosiers have responded. Indiana leads the Big Ten in both field goal percentage defense and three-point field goal defense, limiting the opposition to .336 shooting from the field and .254 shooting from beyond the arc.
In addition, the Hoosiers rank third in the conference behind only Ohio State and Purdue in scoring defense, limiting the opposition to only 59.3 points per game.
On The Rebound
Indiana's 43.9 rebounds per game leads the Big Ten, and Angela Hawkins (9.6 rpg), Lisa Eckart (6.2 rpg) and Jenny DeMuth (6.1 rpg) all rank among the top 16 rebounders in the conference.
No One Has Done It Better
In addition to leading the conference in various categories, Indiana has also seen some of its players put out some of the Big Ten's best performances to date.
Angela Hawkins' 18 rebounds against North Texas remains the highest single-game total of any Big Ten player this year. The same goes for Kristen Bodine's 12-assist effort against Ball State and Jenny DeMuth's 14-for-14 performance from the free-throw line against Ball State.
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.
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 Illinois State, 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 six of its last seven games (Valentin vs. Illinois State, DeMuth vs. South Florida and Illinois, Eckart vs. Purdue, Angela Hawkins vs. North Texas, Kali Kullberg vs. Georgetown and April Williams vs. Florida State.)
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.
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.
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.
Player Year Injury Result
Kali Kullberg 2002 Torn ACL Surgery
LeeAnn Stephenson 2002 Torn ACL Surgery
Lisa Eckart 2002 Ruptured Disk in Back Surgery
Kristen Bodine 2001 Torn ACL Surgery
Jamie Gathing 2000-02 Various Knee Injuries Surgery
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.
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 host Ohio State at 2 p.m. on Sunday at Assembly Hall.
Kathi Bennett has never lost to the Buckeyes since taking over at Indiana, compiling a 4-0 mark in her two seasons in Bloomington.
The game can be heard live in Bloomington on 105.1 WHCC Radio with Jeremy Gray calling all the action.
In addition, it will be televised locally on WTIU with Jim McGuire handling the play-by-play and Jennifer Forney providing analysis.
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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