Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
Support the IDS in College Media Madness! Donate here March 24 - April 8.
Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

sports

Hoosiers making habit of allowing marquee players to dominate second halves

The Big Ten studs keep coming. And the IU women's basketball team keeps on failing to contain them.\nThroughout the season the Hoosiers have limited some of the conference's premier scorers to single digits during the first half but haven't prevented them from heating up during the second half.\nFirst, IU kept Wisconsin All-American Jessie Stomski to two first-half points before she exploded for 19 in the second half. Then, the Hoosiers contained the nation's leading scorer, Penn State's Kelly Mazzante, to nine first-half points. She finished with 36.\nThree days later, the Hoosier defense faced another daunting task. Iowa guard Lindsey Meder brought her 17.3 scoring average to Assembly Hall Sunday afternoon.\nSame situation, same result. Another All-Big Ten honoree padded her stats against the Hoosiers.\nMeder, a 5-foot-8 starting guard, finished with 23 points -- 20 in the second half -- to carry the Hawkeyes to a 73-65 victory over IU.\n"We just tried not to let her get open looks," IU coach Kathi Bennett said. "She's really good off the dribble, too, where she can pull up. We tried to keep someone on her and help on-ball screens. Always have a hand in her face if she drove, where we could contest a little bit."\nWhen Meder sat on the bench with foul trouble in the first half, IU kept victory within reach. As Meder played 10 minutes in the first stanza, the Hawkeyes couldn't extend a lead greater than seven points.\nBut with the game on the line, Meder flaunted her offensive clout. After the Hoosiers pulled to 47-47 with 9:56 left on forward Erin McGinnis' two free throws, Meder hit four field goals, including a pair of three pointers, to carry her team to victory.\nMeder also completed 5-of-6 free throws in the final minute to silence any IU victory cheers.\n"Sitting on the bench with two fouls makes a difference," said Meder, who finished with three fouls. "…I need to be smarter when I get my first foul."\nMeder's first foul came when she battled IU guard Jenny DeMuth for a rebound. The second foul was a moving screen. Her lone first-half field goal arrived off a three pointer with 14:31 left.\nThe Hoosiers attacked Meder and Co. with stifling man-to-man defense. Guard Tara Jones started against Meder, and DeMuth provided most of the defense in the second half.\nIn the first half, IU's defense largely kept Meder in check. On one of Meder's first four field goal attempts, the ball was whacked from her hands as she drove to the basket. Later, she shot the ball off the side of the backboard as she was triple-teamed. DeMuth swiped the ball out of Meder's hands for one of her two blocks.\nWith a second left in the first half, Meder airballed a three pointer off an inbounds pass. \nBut everything changed after halftime.\nJust as the Hoosiers tied the game at 45-45 for the first time since 18-18, Meder began hitting shots. Within 45 seconds, she fired a three pointer. She tallied 14 points in the final 9:30. She shot 7-of-12 from the field, including 3-of-4 from three-point range.\n"I feel confident with the ball in Lindsey's hands," Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. "Anytime. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out, though"

Get stories like this in your inbox
Subscribe