Bell scores career-high 13 in Hoosiers fifth straight victory

By Robby Howard | women's basketball/Little 500 beat writer

Posted at 10:59 pm on November 26, 2012 | | | Comments (0)

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — For the first time in her college career, freshman guard Nicole Bell scored in double-digits to help the Indiana women’s basketball team to a 64-47 victory against IPFW Monday night at Assembly Hall.

After subbing in for senior forward Aulani Sinclair who picked up her second foul at the 15:15 mark in the first half, Bell showed that Sinclair, who leads the Big Ten in three-point field goal percentage (55 percent), is not the only sharpshooter on the team.

Bell made two three-pointers in the next 1:04. While Sinclair was out, the team went on a 12-6 run.

But Bell stayed on the court when Sinclair came back on the floor. The freshman’s hot hand wasn’t done yet.

Bell made two more three-point field goals in the final two minutes of the half to give the Hoosiers (5-1) a 38-20 halftime lead. They shot 68.2 percent from the field, including 6-11 from three-point range.

“Nicole Bell got us going from the three-point arc,” IU Coach Curt Miller said.

Bell finished the half shooting 4-5 from the field, all from behind the arc, to score 12 points. Coming into the game, Bell had only scored 12 total points in her first five games.

She said she has gone on hot streaks like that in high school in Cincinnati, but never in her time at Indiana.

“Nicole can be more of a threat with her shooting,” Miller said.

After starting the first two games of the season while junior guard Andrea Newbauer was recovering from injury, Bell has adjusted to a new role as the first person off the bench to provide energy for the team.

“I definitely feel comfortable,” she said of coming off the bench. “Andrea does a great job starting off the game and then I can kind of see how things are going and what it’s like and then I can come in.”

But coming into the game, she had only been shooting 20 percent (4-20) from the field and was just 2-12 from behind the arc.

“It felt really good to get my shot going because it’s been off for the rest of the games so far this season,” she said. “It felt good.”

Robby is in his second year with the IDS Sports staff. Follow him on Twitter @robbyhoward1

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