The learning curve

Assembly Hall certainly isn’t the Virgin Islands, but there’s no place like home. \nThe IU women’s basketball team will play its first game in Bloomington in over two weeks Friday when they take on No. 21 Florida State in the first year of the Big Ten/ACC Women’s Basketball Challenge. \nThe Hoosiers just returned from the Paradise Jam Tournament in the Virgin Islands, where they went 1-2. \nIU coach Felisha Legette-Jack said she and her team enjoyed their trip to the Caribbean, and she said her team continued to mature throughout the trip. She said she was particularly happy with her team’s defense during the tournament, but that the offense left something to be desired. \n“Every game, we’ve gotten better,” Legette-Jack said. “Defensively, we looked good all three days. Offensively, we’ve got to find our way again.”\nSophomore guard Jamie Braun called the Hoosiers’ trip to the islands “an experience,” and said she and her teammates enjoyed seeing the beach and visiting a more exotic destination. \nBraun took home all-tournament honors after averaging 18.5 points per game throughout the tournament. But the Wisconsin native said she’d rather have nabbed honors of a different kind.\n“To bring home any honor is always nice,” Braun said, “but it would have been better if we came out on top, first place.”\nBraun said poor shooting from the outside hurt the Hoosiers over the break. She said she thinks they need to work on getting the ball inside more, and then kicking it back out. \nFreshman guard/forward Jori Davis agreed, adding that she thought the Hoosiers’ defense, which never let an opponent score more than 60 points in the tournament, was a highlight of the trip. \n“On defense, there were some things where we slipped,” Davis said, “but we still did a good job on defense because we kept most of the teams under 59 points.”\nBraun said both losses over break stung, but the loss to Wake Forest – which saw IU surrender an 11-point halftime lead – hurt a little worse. \n“A loss is a loss; it’s really hard to take,” Braun said. “But with the Wake Forest one, we should have had that one.”\nHowever, Braun said playing two good teams close helped IU’s confidence going forward. \nLegette-Jack said playing three games in three days also helped her team’s maturity. \n“Oh absolutely, it revealed character, and our kids are really stepping up every day,” Legette-Jack said. \nLegette-Jack said Florida State presents a tough challenge, but she said she isn’t fazed by national rankings. Rather, she said she sees the game as another chance to grade her team’s growth this season. \nShe said she expects the Seminoles to get up and down the court quick Friday. \n“Florida State is a running team,” Jack said. “That’s how they play, and they’re very good at it.”\nThe Seminoles are anchored by three different players who average double digit points. Six-foot-4 sophomore forward/center Jacinta Moore, who averages 14 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, leads the way, and junior guard Tanae Davis-Cain adds 13.5 points and 4.5 rebounds a contest. \nDavis-Cain also shoots 41 percent from behind the arc, and in her last game against rival-Florida, the 5-foot-11 wing player hit five 3-pointers on her way to a career-high 27 points. \nThe game comes with an added bonus: It will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network. This marks the first time this season the team has played on the new network. \nThe Hoosiers will appear on the network at least eight times this year. \n“That’s always a plus,” Legette-Jack said.