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Tuesday, March 19
The Indiana Daily Student

sports

Hoosiers to face exhibition foe

Team looks for victory after losing 1st exhibition; takes on Premier All-Stars

The women's basketball team could walk away with an exhibition triumph at 7 p.m. today at Assembly Hall if the opponent shows the same form it has displayed all week.\nTwo other Big Ten teams have overwhelmed IU's foe, Premier All-Stars, in the last five days. Michigan State knocked off the touring team of former college stars 93-74 Sunday. \nPenn State led its entire game against the All-Stars, winning 78-68 Wednesday night without the Nittany Lions' best player, Rashana Barnes.\nBut coach Kathi Bennett said she hasn't paid too much attention to how opponents have handled Premier. Instead, she focused on her own team and what it needs to improve.\nAnd after an 84-83 exhibition loss Wednesday to the Reebok Lady Stars, the Hoosiers have plenty to improve.\n"We need to work on our transition D," Bennett said after Wednesday's loss. "We have to tighten up our passing. Those are two glaring things we need to address. We saw that we did improve with our rebounding, which was nice. I still think we can run the floor harder."\nIU collected 56 rebounds Wednesday, 24 of them offensive, compared to the Stars' 32. That area could work in IU's favor Friday because the All-Stars lost their rebounding battle against the Nittany Lions Wednesday. \nPenn State out-rebounded Premier 42-35. The Nittany Lions also shot 47.7 percent to the Stars' 34.4 percent. In that game, forward Joni O\'Connell from Ohio State (1984-86) led Premier with 23 points, followed by guard Jamie Lewis from Ohio State (1997-2001) with 16 points.\n Bennett said she hasn't scrutinized the All-Stars.\n "For exhibition, I really concentrate on us," Bennett said. "We don't do a whole lot with tape and scouting opponents and getting their sets and anything like that."\n Friday's game marks senior Heather Cassady's second start as shooting guard. Cassady played point guard during most of her IU career. Butler transfer Kristen Bodine, a junior, has filled in the point guard slot. Bodine scored 15 points in Wednesday's game.\n"I don't really feel it's that big of an adjustment," said Cassady, who tallied six points and seven assists in the loss. "I still have the ball a lot. I focus on defense more than anything and I think one or two, whoever has the ball on the wing, we just get out and go."\nThe All-Stars feature six players from Ohio State among former players from Toledo, Massachusetts and Boise State. Five players on the roster played college ball in the late 1980s, including O'Connell as the oldest.\n"I don't know much about the Premier team, but I'm pretty sure they're still going to be a hard-nosed defense," said senior forward Tara Jones, who tallied four points and two steals in Wednesday's loss. \n"If we're up by 20 or down by 20, we're going to play the same intensity throughout the whole game because that's what our coach expects from us at practice and that's what we're going to continue to do"

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