Home finale heartbreak

It was like David and Goliath, the 4-12 Hoosiers going up against the No. 22 Michigan State Spartans. Facing a 51-48 deficit, IU sophomore Cyndi Valentin's last-second, running three-pointer shot into the air like the aforementioned rock and struck its mark -- only this time, Goliath got up.\nAfter hitting the three pointer at the final second to force the game into overtime, the Spartans won, 60-51. \nThe Hoosiers fought the Spartans doggedly in the second half, never trailing by more than four points in the period and even taking the lead for five minutes. \nFollowing a lay-up by MSU junior Kelly Roehrig with nine seconds left in the game, IU was facing a three-point deficit until Valentin connected on a deep three pointer with no time left on the clock. \n"We just came down, and we were trying to get our two guards open on the wing," Valentin said. "Sarah (McKay) set a screen, and it was open, so I shot it." \nPrior to the shot, the Hoosiers suffered offensive woes early in the game, as they were only able to put up one point in the first five minutes while Michigan State put nine on the board. MSU sophomore Lindsay Bowen sunk a three-pointer from the top of the key to bring the score to 16-5 in the Spartans' favor with 11:42 left in the half.\nFacing an 11-point deficit, the Hoosiers decided to make a game out of the contest with a 13-2 run spearheaded by junior Jenny DeMuth and freshman Leah Enterline to tie the score at 18 apiece. \n"I think our defense picked up," Valentin said. "We weren't hitting shots in the beginning, but they were getting easy scores and our defense picked up a lot, so they didn't score so well."\nDuring the run, the Hoosiers showed some defensive prowess, as freshman Sarah McKay garnered her 50th block of the season, making her the only IU freshman ever to amass 50 blocks as a rookie. McKay finished the game with seven total blocks, breaking her own freshman single-game record and setting the all-time mark for freshmen with 52, breaking Shirley Bryant's 1992 record of 47.\nMcKay said she is proud of the accomplishment but never worried about it because she did not know about the record until after the game.\n"Actually, I didn't know about the whole freshman record thing until about two seconds ago," McKay said. "I do what I can to help my teammates when they get beat in the middle and in the paint most of the time, and I try to do my part and affect some shots."\nMcKay wasn't the only Hoosier setting marks with Valentin and DeMuth breaking records of their own. Valentin finished with a perfect 6 of 6 from the charity stripe, good for 40 straight made free throws, breaking Pat Graham's overall IU basketball 1991 record of 38. \nDeMuth's team-leading 23 points also gave her an even 500 points on the season, making her only the fifth Hoosier to score 500 in a single season. \nWhile DeMuth is proud of her accomplishment, she downplayed the milestone because the team did not win.\n"It feels good," DeMuth said. "Yeah it feels good, but we didn't get the win tonight, so it really doesn't mean anything." \n-- Contact senior writer Dan Patrick at djpatric@indiana.edu.