IU women's basketball team stumbles in the preseason WNIT

A tale of two halves is the best way to describe the IU women’s basketball team’s 65-59 loss Saturday night against Middle Tennessee State.

Despite out-shooting the Blue Raiders from the floor 52.1 percent to 37.5 percent and going on a 19-0 run in the first half to gain a 30-10 margin at one point, the Hoosiers (1-2) were not able to hold their 36-22 halftime lead.

In the second half, the Hoosiers were out-scored 43-23 and only shot 37.5 percent from the floor, which contributed to the disappointing six-point loss.

Four players managed to finish in double figures for the Hoosiers, led by junior point guard Jamie Braun’s 16 points, 14 of which came in the first half as she hit all six of her shots from the floor and her two free throws.

Also in double figures was senior guard Kim Roberson (14), senior forward Amber Jackson (11) and sophomore guard Jori Davis (10).

Down 14 points at the half, Middle Tennessee coach Rick Insell saw something in the Hoosiers’ defense he thought he could expose.

“They were in a matchup zone,” he said in a statement. “They play it very well. They were cutting lanes and didn’t have anyone inside. We weren’t having any success offensively so we had to go to something else. We went back to something we had in the bag to deal with that zone. We first put it in at one of those timeouts, but we really talked about it at halftime. We wanted Emily Queen to really play hard in the post, and when she did, it opened up our outside shooters.”

It was the Blue Raiders’ pressure IU coach Felisha Legette-Jack said her team couldn’t overcome in the second half.

“We were attacking,” she said in a statement. “We didn’t worry about the press. In the second half, we decided to look at their press. It was a big monster. It was just five people out there still. This is a lesson we can learn, and I think we will be better for it.”

A huge key to the Blue Raiders’ success was their ability to shoot and make the three. Middle Tennessee State hit 11-of-31 from beyond the arc, opposed the Hoosiers just going 1-of-6.

“We knew they were going to shoot it a lot, we just needed to defend it better,” Legette-Jack said.

Another factor in the loss was the disparity on the offensive glass. The Blue Raiders pulled down 19 offensive rebounds. By contrast, the Hoosiers only recorded six, and they were out-rebounded 38-27 overall.

“We need to get better,” Legette-Jack said. “Our goal is always to get at least 40 rebounds. Twenty-seven just isn’t enough.”

Although the Hoosiers shot 52 percent from the field, Legette-Jack was still disappointed with the Blue Raiders’ comeback.

“You can complain when you lose,” she said. “We are losing. We don’t like moral victories. And we are not a team that is trying to do that. We are trying to scrape our way past Middle Tennessee, a team that is vying to get into position for the NCAA Tournament. We will continue to scrape and claw, and we won’t allow anyone to give us a moral victory.”

The Hoosiers are back in action at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Missouri.