Frigid offense the culprit in Hoosiers' loss

MADISON, Wis. -- The Hoosiers' shooting woes have turned as ice-cold as the 17-degree temperature in this state capitol.\nThe women's basketball team's offense has remained arctic during the last five games and completely iced over during a 10-minute stretch Thursday in IU's lopsided 74-54 loss to No. 12 Wisconsin (13-1, 4-0 Big Ten). \nFrom late in the first half to midway into the second half, the Hoosiers (8-6, 2-1) missed 12 consecutive field goals as the Badgers went on a 39-8 run.\n"Confidence," said IU coach Kathi Bennett, when asked what's caused her team's poor offense. "Our depth: we've got to get some players stepping up. Heather Cassady's played 40 minutes pretty much since Kristen Bodine went down. Our legs: we've had a tough stretch. Since we came back from Christmas, we're a little tired. That's not an excuse, because I want you to know that Wisconsin is a good team."\nSuch a good team that the Badgers' lone loss came to No. 20 Texas Nov. 24. So good that Bennett said the Badgers are the best team IU has faced since No. 6 Stanford.\nThat caliber of play regulated IU's shooting to 35 percent for the game -- and 30 percent in the first half. The Hoosiers have struggled to 36 percent shooting in the past five games. \nThe larger Badgers suffocated the Hoosiers on defense, forced IU to shoot at difficult positions and often just flat-out blocked shot attempts. While IU struggled on offense, Wisconsin shot 51 percent and snatched 42 rebounds to IU's 35.\nThe 20-point loss moved Kathi Bennett's record to 0-2 at the Kohl Center, where her father, Dick Bennett, ruled as Wisconsin's men's coach. He sat in the stands among 5,986 fans.\nThe Hoosiers kept things competitive in the first half, which featured seven ties and five lead changes. Their defense cooled the Badgers' Jessie Stomski, pre-season co-Big Ten Player of the Year, to two points on 1-of-5 shooting and no rebounds. She finished with 21 points and three rebounds.\nWhen IU forward Erin McGinnis hit a three-pointer to hand the Hoosiers an 11-8 lead at the 14:35 mark, she cracked the Hoosiers' 88:03 time span without a bucket from beyond the arc. IU hadn't made a three-pointer (0-for-21) in two games.\nPoint guard Heather Cassady gave IU its last lead at 21-20 with 6:24 left on a three-pointer of her own.\nBut then the cold front set in.\nTamara Moore, one peg of Wisconsin's three-headed offensive monster that includes Stomski and guard Kyle Black, repeated the act with a three-pointer. The Badgers then went on a 7-1 run to close the half, as the Hoosiers missed seven field goals during five minutes.\nIU's chilly offense didn't thaw anytime soon in the second half. Wisconsin ignited a 29-7 run to build its lead to 30 with 10 minutes to go.\n"We wanted to be able to take care of the ball a lot better and try to make them play defense," Bennett said. "I thought we took some quick shots, and we wanted to get the ball inside, and I thought early in the second half we did. We got some touches inside."\nThe Hoosiers immediately began chipping away at the monstrous margin. Just more than three minutes into the second half, the lead was trimmed to 20 on the strength of senior guard Tara Jones' aggressive shooting. She tallied nine of her 13 points in the final five minutes.\nBennett removed Chapman with the Hoosiers 20 points down and six minutes remaining. Chapman finished with 13 points on 6-of-17 shooting, 14 rebounds and one foul in 30 minutes.\nChapman's explanation of her off-game was simple.\n"I had shots, and I just didn't make them," she said. \nThe Badgers had a simple defensive plan for Chapman, who before Thursday averaged 14 points against Wisconsin.\n"Jill Chapman is a very nice post, and we had planned on playing her straight up because we got a very athletic 6-5 player (center Emily Ashbaugh) that we felt could guard her," Wisconsin coach Jane Albright said. "We never did really double her. We just played straight up defense on her out of respect for everyone else."\nAfter Chapman went to the bench, starters Cassady and Jones stayed in, and Bennett turned to seldom-used reserves Jelena Lazic and Allison Skapin, who each picked up four fouls.\nA methodical Wisconsin defense and IU's lack of confidence caused the Hoosiers' offense to frost, Bennett said. The Badgers have held their last seven opponents to less than 37 percent shooting.\nTraditionally a warrior against the Badgers, Cassady had scored at least 14 points in every game she played more than 10 minutes against Wisconsin. Black held Cassady to 3-of-13 shooting and seven points.\n"We've got a lot of confidence in our defense, probably more in our defense than anything else in our game," Albright said. "We mixed some things up"