Time to go 'all in' for IU

Eleven players sit around a poker game desperately trying to read each other's faces, with the smell of cigar smoke and stale pretzels wafting through the air. While the 11-1 Purdue Boilermakers and Penn State Lady Lions have been drawing face cards all day long, the Hoosiers and the Northwestern Wildcats have been bluffing all season.\nIU comes into the game on the wrong end of a five-game streak, losing all but one game by double digit margins. Now IU sits at No. 9 in the Big Ten with a lowly 3-8 conference record and a 10-12 overall. Prior to the slide, the Hoosiers sat at a respectable 3-3 in the Big Ten and were 10-7 overall. \nWhile the Hoosiers aren't happy with their current stack of chips, IU's pains are nothing compared to Northwestern's current 0-11 conference record and 7-13 overall record. \nThe Wildcats haven't won against a Big Ten opponent since defeating the Hoosiers 50-46 Feb. 20 of last year. Since then, Northwestern has stumbled to a 0-14 conference record, losing by an average margin of 18.8 points.\nWhile the Wildcats remain winless in conference action, freshman Sarah McKay said the Hoosiers can't let their defensive guard down.\n"We have to make sure that we're there defensively and be ready," McKay said. "We have to make sure that we don't let any of their players go off on us."\nHowever, the last time the Hoosiers and 'Cats locked horns, Northwestern forced the game into overtime with IU eventually taking the 58-55 victory. The Wildcats aren't without their fair share of offensive weapons with a well-balanced starting lineup. Sophomore Ifeoma Okonkwo is Northwestern's main threat, averaging 10.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game, while three other players are each averaging over eight points per game.\nThough Northwestern brings a more balanced hand to the table, Junior Jenny DeMuth and sophomore Cyndi Valentin remain as a pair of aces in IU coach Kathi Bennett's hand.\nDeMuth and Valentin currently average 18.6 and 14.9 points per game respectively. DeMuth also brings an all-around game to the table as she leads the Hoosiers in rebounding with 7.5 per game and steals with 2.3 per game. \nValentin has proved herself as quite an efficient shooter. She has hit 32 shots from behind the arc and is among the nation's best from the charity stripe, shooting at 90.5 percent clip.\nWhile DeMuth's performance has slipped as of late, averaging 13.4 ppg and 5.6 rpg, as opposed to 20.2 ppg and 8.1 rpg in the team's first 17 games, Bennett cites DeMuth wearing down and other teams gunning specifically for her.\n"I think it's a mixture of both," Bennett said. "We really need her on the court at all times, and I think that teams are definitely making sure they know where she is, sometimes denying her the ball, and she's having to work a lot harder."\nWhile Bennett said the 5-foot-10 guard may be tiring after playing 32 minutes per game for 22 games, DeMuth said she has no intent to fold her hand.\n"If you're tired, you can just overcome it," DeMuth said after Sunday's loss against Illinois. "It's a game, you can go home and rest if you need to, but I don't think that's a problem." \nWith the end of the regular season quickly approaching, Bennett said she feels that this is the time to put all the chips in the pot.\n"With only five games left, we feel like this is a really big game, and we know a win could change everything," Bennett said. "We need that confidence, and we're very aware of what Northwestern brings to the table, and we've got to find a way to win"