Indiana University Athletics
IU Travels to No. 25 PSU (2-8-05)
2/8/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
• Indiana (9-12; 2-9) continues with its second three-game conference road swing of the season as it travels to No. 23/23 Penn State (14-8; 9-2) on Thursday, Feb. 10. Tip-off with the Lady Lions is set for 7 p.m and can be heard locally on WHCC (105.1) with Jeremy Gray calling all of the action. GameTracker will also be available on www.GoPSUsports.com.
• This will be the seventh ranked opponent the Hoosiers have taken on this season. The two teams met earlier this year with Penn State coming away with the, 65-44, victory on Jan. 16.
• Should Indiana win Thursday's contest, it would be the first time the Hoosiers have ever won at the Bryce Jordan Center, as Penn State owns an 11-0 record when playing IU at home. In addition, the Lady Lions have yet to lose to any opponent at home this season, sporting a perfect 9-0 home record.
SCOUTING THE LADY LIONS
The No. 25 Lady Lions, sport a 14-8 record overall and a 9-2 mark in Big Ten play coming into Thurday's game. Penn State most recently dropped a, 50-44, decision to Purdue on Feb. 6 in West Lafayette. The Lady Lions are undefeated at home with a perfect 9-0 record.
Senior guard Tanisha Wright, the Big Ten's leading scorer with 19.9 ppg, leads Penn State on the offensive end. Senior guard Jess Strom also ranks among the best in the conference and is second in assists (105/5.00 per game) and steals (62/2.95).
As a team, Penn State carries a No. 1 ranking in the conference in free throw percentage with a .788 clip from the charity stripe (345-438).
During her tenure at Penn State, head coach Rene Portland, who was awarded the 2004 WBCA/Russell Athletic National Coach of the Year, has compiled an overall mark of 660-230. In her 24 years with the Nittany Lions, Portland has coached four first-team Kodak All-Americans, four conference player of the year and one Wade Trophy winner. Portland has also served as the head coach at Colorado (1978-80) and Saint Josephs (1976-78).
PACK THE HALL COMING UP SOON
For the third consecutive year, the Indiana women's basketball team is out to set a new home attendance record, and for the third straight year, breast cancer research will come out as the real winner.
The Hoosiers are teaming up with Vera Bradley Designs to `Pack the Hall for a Cure' and hopefully draw more than 10,000 fans to Assembly Hall for Indiana's 2 p.m. game against Purdue on February 20.
In honor of IU women's basketball fans, Vera Bradley Designs will donate $10,000 for breast cancer research to the IU Cancer Center in Indianapolis if the Hoosiers Pack the Hall with more than 10,000 people.
Last season, a furious winter storm in Bloomington dumped several inches of snow and ice that kept the attendance under the desired total. With over 10,000 tickets purchased for the event prior to the snow storm, Vera Bradley still moved forward and made the donation.
The crowd of 7,110 that braved the terrible road conditions to drive to the game constituted the second-largest crowd in school history, trailing only the 7,986 that came in 2003 against Wisconsin in which Kathi Bennett made a $5,000 donation to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation in commemoration of the school's existing attendance record falling.
"It is an honor for us to be able to team up with Vera Bradley for such a great cause," Bennett said. "The research that they are doing and the strides that they are making are phenomenal and give hope that we are coming closer to finding a cure."
Tickets are available by calling the Indiana ticket office toll-free at 1-866-IUSPORTS or by visiting the official web site of Indiana athletics, iuhoosiers.com.
DYNAMIC DEFENSE
There is a lot that can be said about IU's defensive efforts. The Hoosiers are notorious for holding some of the top teams in the nation to low scoring. The Ohio State match-up on Jan. 20, was a perfect example of this, as Indiana held the third-ranked Buckeyes, to just 52 points, its lowest scoring effort of the season. Prior to the game, OSU was averaging 76.0 ppg. Indiana held yet another ranked opponent to its lowest scoring performance of the season when No. 11/11 Michigan State paid Indiana a visit. Averaging 71.9 ppg, prior to its game with IU, the Spartans were held to just 52 points.
DEFENSE AMONG THE BEST
Indiana's stifling defense has put them near the top of three categories among Big Ten Conference teams. The Hoosiers rank first in field goal percentage defense (397-1103/.360) and three-point field goal percentage defense (64-228/.281). In addition, IU ranks third in scoring defense, as it has limited opponents to an average of 54.5 points per game over the course of 21 games. Not only do IU's defensive efforts rank high in the conference, the Hoosiers have also made it on to the national scene as their scoring defense and field-goal percent defense rank 11th and 24th, respectively.
MCKAY BACK IN ACTION
Sophomore Sarah McKay is back in the Hoosier line-up after having sat out five games due to a knee injury she sustained on Jan. 2 vs. Minnesota.
The Hoosiers definetly struggled without the play of their 6-foot-7 center, as they only averaged 43.8 points per game over the course of that five-game stretch.
The Victoria, B.C., native broke free during the Wisconsin game on Feb. 3 as she scored 11 points off the bench, 10 of which came in the first half on a 4-for-4 effort from the field. McKay also pitched in with nine points off the bench in the OSU game on Feb. 6.
NEXT GAME
The Hoosiers finish off their three-game conference road swing when they take on Northwestern on Sunday, Feb. 13, for their final regular-season away game of the season. Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m. (EST) and can be heard locally on WHCC (105.1) with Jeremy Gray calling all of the action.
