Lady Hoosiers travel to Illinois

The IU women's basketball team prides itself on its leadership from four starting seniors. Illinois looks for inspiration elsewhere with only one senior in its opening lineup.\n"Senior leadership is important, but you have to be passionate and you have to be hungry and you got to want to make it happen," Illinois coach, Theresa Grentz, said. "If you don't have seniors, you go with what you have. The key is to be passionate. You have to have great desire."\nDrawing from either passion or seniors, the Hoosiers (12-13, 6-8 Big Ten) and Fighting Illini (14-10, 7-7) have rung up nearly identical records. The teams meet at 8 p.m. today in Champaign, Ill., where IU hasn't won since Jan. 28, 1994.\nThe Hoosiers look to face another offensive challenge after topping No. 14 Minnesota, the third-best scoring team in the nation, 73-63 Sunday. The second-best offensive team in the Big Ten at 77.3 points per game, Illinois enters the game with five players averaging more than eight points.\nIllinois poses a challenge with 6-foot-4 sophomore center Iveta Marcauskaite who leads the Big Ten in field-goal percentage (64 percent). Averaging 19 points in Big Ten play, she also leads the Illini in three-point shooting percentage at 35.7 percent. \n"It's going to be a change for me, knowing she's not going to be the typical post," IU center Jill Chapman said. "She's posting up. She plays at the mid-post and takes some outside shots. I'm going to have to play her more like a guard, and there haven't been very many teams that have post players that are guard types, too."\nAssociate head coach Trish Betthauser said Chapman should be prepared to contain Marcauskaite one-on-one, and the Hoosiers will bring early double teams at the mid-post to avoid her passing. IU also will have to be ready to stop a drive or three-point shot.\nThe Illini also lead the conference in blocks and assists, as 6-foot-2 senior Dawn Vana is the only forward among guards to rank in the top 10 for assists. \nIllinois guard Shavonna Hunter returned for a loss to Penn State after missing the previous two games with asthma problems. Grentz said they're handling her playing day-by-day.\nThe Hoosiers start three players shorter than six feet, while four Illini starters are taller than 5-foot-11, including 6-foot-2 forward Cindy Dallas and 6-foot freshman guard Angelina Williams. Betthauser said she'll go with the regular starting lineup, but will look to six-foot forward Jamie Gathing as the first reserve off the bench at the three-spot, keeping Chapman and 6-1 forward Erin McGinnis in.\n"The good side of that is most likely (5-foot-10) Jenny DeMuth will have a 6-foot-2 girl on her, and we're going to do as much as we can to take advantage of that situation with ball screens and that type of thing," Betthauser said. "It's a big game for us. Hopefully we'll gain momentum from the weekend."\nBetthauser said the Hoosiers could take advantage of Illinois' youth, especially at the guard position. The Illini start two freshmen, including point guard Jere Issenman, who has replaced Hunter, two sophomores and a senior in Vana.\n"The guard that's starting on the wing, Angelina Williams, she's really playing well," Betthauser said. "But I do think we can exploit her as far as she likes to take quick shots and she's somewhat limited offensively. She has hit some three-point shots, but her range is not consistent. We'll definitely try to gap off her a little bit and try to force some freshman turnovers or inexperienced turnovers"