IU folds in 2nd half against Lady Lions

In the opening minutes of the second half against No. 8 Penn State on Thursday night, IU senior guard Jasmine McGhee stole the ball and took it coast-to-coast for a layup to cut the Lady Lions’ lead to three.

But that was the closest the Hoosiers would come to pulling the upset, as the Lady Lions responded with a 17-3 run to hold off the Hoosiers, 76-54 at Assembly Hall.

Senior forward Aulani Sinclair led all scorers with 21 points. Penn State’s Alex Bentley, an Indianapolis native, and Maggie Lucas scored 20 each. Bentley was the Preseason Big Ten Player of the Year and Lucas is the third leading scorer in the Big Ten.

Despite the final score, IU Coach Curt Miller remained proud of his team, saying he thought it successfully implemented the gameplan for most of the game.

“This program lost by 32 last year, we lost by 22 this year,” he said. “We’re taking all the small victories we can as we try to build this program. I, for one, am really proud. We went toe-to-toe and didn’t back down and didn’t play scared. We weren’t as good.

“Penn State’s better than us. But we weren’t scared, and I’m proud of them because of that.”

After trailing by as many as 13 points in the first half, IU (10-13, 1-9) sparked a run heading into halftime highlighted by 3-point field goals from Sinclair and McGhee, as well as a diving steal by junior center Milika Taufa that brought the crowd to its feet as the Hoosiers trailed 37-30 at the break.

“That momentum change was great for us,” Sinclair said. “Everyone showed emotion and just played hard. We had that energy tonight and we just need to continue to keep doing that.”

But following the quick second half run, Penn State took to the glass on both sides of the ball. Indiana’s hot shooting — the Hoosiers were 44 percent from 3-point range in the first half — wore off and the Hoosiers finally succumbed to the Penn State pressure that frequently saw players double and triple teamed after crossing half court.

Miller came into the game with rebounding as one of his top concerns, and in the first half, the Hoosiers stayed in the battle, losing 23-19. But the Lady Lions pounced on the Hoosiers in the second half, winning that battle 31-13.

Fifth-year senior center Sasha Chaplin fouled out in 10 minutes of game time, meaning Taufa played 20 minutes. She scored nine points and had five rebounds.

“Milika was like her non-conference self tonight,” Miller said. “She gave us a lot of energy. She seemed to have a pep in her step tonight.”

Turnovers also caught up with the Hoosiers, giving up 20 turnovers and 25 points off turnovers. In the first half, IU had just eight turnovers.

Freshman guard Nicole Bell had to bring the ball up against Bentley all by herself, playing 39 minutes. Bentley is averaging a Big Ten best 3.7 steals per game.
 
“(Bell) wasn’t able to get any shots off, and we weren’t able to get any offense out of her,” Miller said. “But she did what was more important. She handled full-court pressure for 39 minutes tonight the best she could. Really proud she didn’t succumb to turnovers. She really worked. She doesn’t have a sub.”

With only seven scholarship players and one walk-on, Miller said the team tired out late in the game. Prior to that, he felt his team did almost all it could.

“We got tired at about the six minute mark in the game and that’s when they went on that big run to make the score look significantly like a bad game tonight,” Miller said, “and I don’t think it was. We pushed them. We made them have to play tonight. I’m proud of our team. We competed. We did some of the things we wanted to do.