Hoosiers keep winning ways into new year

All season long, IU coach Felisha Legette-Jack has preached to her team about playing Indiana basketball. That ideology has led her Hoosiers to a 12-3 record overall and a 1-2 record in the competitive Big Ten Conference.\nOver winter break, the Hoosiers went 4-2 (1-1 Big Ten), picking up convincing wins over Kansas and Michigan. After barely escaping IPFW with a 69-68 win on Dec. 6, the Hoosiers began to pick up a little momentum, defeating Southern Illinois 73-66 on Dec. 16.\n"It was a great team effort," Legette-Jack said in a statement after playing the Salukis. "Our team is really forming into something special and we showed today that you can't really say who our go-to players are, because any given day someone different can step up."\nAgainst in-state rival Ball State, four Hoosier players scored in double figures, including sophomore Whitney Thomas' fourth double-double of the season, en route to a 67-56 victory. After defeating Kansas 63-48, IU looked to extend its four-game winning streak into its first conference game against Michigan State.\nThe No. 19 Spartans played spoiler to Legette-Jack's Big Ten opener, routing the Hoosiers 74-49. Michigan State never trailed in the contest.\nIU forced 26 Spartan turnovers and secured 21 offensive rebounds, but the Hoosiers only shot a combined 25 percent from the field as opposed to Michigan State's 48 percent.\nThe Hoosiers returned to their home-court on Dec. 31 to play a Michigan team that finished last in the Big Ten a season ago. In a series of runs, IU extended its lead to double digits on several occasions throughout the game, only to see Michigan come back each time. However, a 10-4 IU run with 10 minutes left put the game out of reach for good as IU went on to win 71-58.\nIn playing Michigan, Legette-Jack told her players to take open shots if they were available, but mostly to attack the basket and get to the free-throw line.\n"What we did today is something we haven't done in a while, we got to the free throw line a lot," Legette-Jack said in a statement. "That has to be our motto, have an attack mode mind-set and it hasn't been that way the last couple of games. It was really neat to see us attack more."\nNow that the Hoosiers have ended non-conference play, IU enters a stretch where five of its next six games will be against three Big Ten teams ranked in the top 25 -- Ohio State, Purdue and Michigan State.\n"We knew going into this season that talent wise, we might be pretty average," Legette-Jack said in a statement. "But if we stick together and allow our defense to talk for us, we can be a pretty good team"