The disappointment was evident for IU women’s basketball after not making the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season.
After IU lost to Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament, IU Coach Teri Moren was vouching for the Big Ten's strength and for her team to earn a bid. Ultimately, the lobbying failed. The Hoosiers instead ended up in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament.
Now that they are here, IU is keeping an upbeat attitude. They’re still playing games, so their mindset is that they might as well try to win a few. That’s the positive attitude the team has maintained all season.
After a 71-58 win over Ball State to begin the WNIT, IU will welcome in the Saint Louis Billikens to Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Sunday at 2 p.m. in the second round of the tournament.
“Our main goal is to win the WNIT,” IU junior guard Tyra Buss said after the Ball State win. “We’re just focusing on one game at a time and Ball State was our first step. It’s great momentum going into our next game. We get to play at home again on Sunday, which is nice.”
IU is trying to push the word out about these games to draw fan support, and Moren even offered to buy 100 pizzas for students who show up to Sunday’s contest.
For the five seniors on the team, any game they play from here on out could be their last at the collegiate level. Senior guard Alexis Gassion said she can feel the burden of tournament play starting to take affect. It’s win or go home, at this point.
“I’m out of here if we lose,” Gassion said. “I don’t want that to happen so, try to prolong it as long we can.”
IU now turns their attention to Saint Louis out of the Atlantic 10 conference. The Billikens were just able to squeeze by IUPUI on Thursday night by a score of 62-57. They were led in scoring by senior forward Sadie Stipanovich, who had a double-double with 22 points and 16 rebounds.
Stipanovich, at close to 15 points per game, is one of three players who average double-digit scoring for Coach Lisa Stone’s bunch. The Billikens are led in scoring by junior guard and two-time Atlantic 10 Player of the Year Jackie Kemph, who averages close to 15 points per game. Kemph also boasts an impressive 7.5 assists per game. Fellow guard and sophomore Jordyn Frantz is the third leading scorer at just under 12 points per game.
The Billikens will present an interesting challenge for the Hoosiers as they are ranked third nationally in assist to turnover ratio and eighth in assists with close to 19 per game.
The Hoosiers will look to prevent Saint Louis from getting to the WNIT third round for the second straight year. As Moren said postgame Thursday, her team is still fired up to being playing basketball.
“I got competitive kids and I wouldn’t expect nothing more than their very best,” Moren said. “It’s about competing and you got a screw loose if you don’t get excited and fired up to do that. The fact that we’re still playing, and hopefully advancing in this thing, will be a testament to how they are showing up right now and still motivated to play.”
