Illini fend off Hoosiers in final minutes

Bright lights shined through a darkened Assembly Hall Thursday as seniors Rainey Alting and Rachael Honegger, and the rest of the Hoosiers, were introduced in the final home game of the season.\n"It was exciting," junior guard Heather Cassady said. "(It was) a little change, better atmosphere before the game, maybe to get the crowd more into it. The crowd was great tonight."\nBut when the fluorescent lights shined again, the Hoosiers saw what coach Kathi Bennett had been warning them about all week. She said Illinois was fast, and if it exploded, watch out.\nThe Fighting Illini proved too much for the Hoosiers in a 54-50 Illini win.\nWith 38.3 seconds on the clock, and IU trailing 52-50, Bennett decided to defense and not foul the Illini. As the shot clock expired, Illinois junior center Dawn Vana sealed the game with a fall-away 14-footer with seven seconds left. \n"We almost had it," Bennett said. "She hit a fade-away jumper with someone on her and one second on the shot clock. We almost did what we wanted to do."\nIllinois (14-13, 9-6 Big Ten) jumped out early, holding the Hoosiers (8-7, 17-9) to only 1-of-8 shooting from the field in the first six minutes of the game. During that time, the Illini built a five-point lead. Thanks to the quick shooting from Illinois guard Allison Curtin, the Hoosiers were down 21-9 with just more than eight minutes left in the half.\n"Allison\'s a very good player," Cassady said. "She can do it all. She can drive, she can shoot, she's always on the floor. She's tough to guard, too."\nBut Cassady scraped the Hoosiers off the floor with a three-point basket and started an IU scoring spurt with seven minutes to go before halftime. IU finished the half on a 19-6 run, and took a 28-27 lead going into the break when Alting drove to the basket and scored with 46 seconds remaining. \n"To start the game off, I don't know how focused we were," Bennett said. "I felt we were ready to play hard, and we did. But I want credit Illinois' defense. We could not get any open looks."\nThe Hoosiers were undefeated when leading at halftime in Assembly Hall. With postseason hopes on the line, IU needed the trend to hold true one final time. It didn't.\nIt looked as if the Hoosiers were going to pull out a victory, but Illinois had other plans.\nIU scored quickly, but the Fighting Illini attacked with the dangerous transition game Bennett feared.\n"I felt defensively, we had effort," Bennett said. "In the second half, we had been doing such a good job with the double teams, but they backed us down with the dribble."\nIf the Hoosiers scored from the field, Illinois took the ball down the court and quickly answered. IU sophomore guard Jill Hartman nailed a three-pointer to give IU a three-point lead late in the second half, but two minutes later, Curtin answered with the same shot.\nIllinois built a five-point lead with two minutes to go. Chapman scored under the basket to pull within three. The next Illinois possession resulted in a turnover, and Cassady fired a three-point shot that would have tied the game. It fell short.\n"I thought we did a good job in the final minute," Bennett said. "We just missed our shots."\nThat's where Vana made the difference, beating the buzzer that had been previously kind to IU. The Hoosiers had already won three games at the buzzer this season.\nCurtin led Illinois in scoring with 21 points. Chapman led the Hoosiers with 15 points.\n"We've got to beat Northwestern, and hope (Illinois) gets some losses," Bennett said. "We would have liked to control our own destiny, so in that aspect, it's tough."\nAlthough a postseason for the Hoosiers is questionable, they remain upbeat. \n"We still have a long way to go," Alting said to the crowd in a ceremony after the game.