IU womens basketball hopes to get defensive in season opener against Albany

In the short exhibition season, the IU women’s basketball team proved it can score points.\nAs the Hoosiers open the regular season at 7 p.m. Friday at Assembly Hall against the University at Albany, they hope their defense will follow suit.\n“As you can see, we can score the ball,” IU coach Felisha Legette-Jack said after an exhibition win against the Showtime Skins. “But we need to improve our defense.”\nSophomore point guard Jamie Braun paced a balanced offensive attack for the Hoosiers in the exhibition games scoring 17 and 18 points, respectively in the two contests. Senior Nikki Smith, juniors Whitney Thomas and Amber Jackson and freshman Ebony Jackson all scored in double figures in one of the games. \n“We have a lot of scorers on our team,” Braun said. “That definitely isn’t something that we lack.”\nAfter the game against the Showime Skins, Legette-Jack said the main priority before the Albany game would be defense and boxing out. \n“Everything revolves around our defensive purpose, and I think defense begins and ends with a box out,” she said. \nLast year the Hoosiers played a matchup zone defensively for most of the year. This year it is taking a bit of time to bring eight newcomers up to speed. \n“Our returners are comfortable because we ran it all last year,” Thomas said. “We just have a lot of newcomers and it’s just a really complex defense. We’re in that process of learning it and then getting comfortable with each other doing it.”\nLegette-Jack knows that there will be some growing pains, but she says eventually the team should get used to the zone. \n“It’s uncomfortable to talk and it’s uncomfortable to say next pass, because right now everyone is trying to figure out where they need to be in our matchup,” she said. “Once we get more comfortable with our role in the defense we’ll be a little bit more excited to help others.”\nThe Hoosiers believe that a defense-first mentality will help the offense continue to work. \n“It all starts with our defense.” Thomas said. “We work so hard on our defense and that creates our offense for us.”\nIn a short week of practice following a Tuesday game, the Hoosiers took time to scout their opponent, but the focus remains on their own play.\n“We watched some film, but it’s really focusing on ourselves first,” Thomas said. “We’ll look at them right before and see what they do and see some of their tendencies.”\nAfter two competitive exhibition games, Legette-Jack says the Hoosiers will be ready for their home opener.\n“Absolutely we’ll be ready,” she said. “In the sense that we don’t have a choice.”