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(02/04/11 4:42am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU coach Felisha Legette-Jack and senior guard Jori Davis sat down at
the post-game press conference with red eyes, glazed-over and welled up.
They had just suffered their eighth-straight loss — the longest losing streak of Coach Legette-Jack’s tenure.
“We’re supposed to endure this and figure it all out and get better and be bigger for this,” Legette-Jack said.
Her team’s 65-59 loss to Minnesota on Thursday at Assembly Hall now drops the Hoosiers to last in the Big Ten standings.
The Hoosiers (8-14, 2-8) headed into the first half with a three-point advantage, but
struggled to hold it for the remaining 20 minutes.
IU traded the lead with Minnesota (11-12, 3-7) nine times, as neither team was able to build a margin larger than nine.
Thanks to 17 second-half points from Davis, the Hoosiers enjoyed a 55-53 lead with 5:35 left to play.
However, Minnesota would close the game with a 10-4 run to seal the victory.
Coach Legette-Jack said her team must learn to close tight games.
“My hope is that we continue the growth in those 34 minutes, and stretch
those minutes to 36, and 37, and hopefully a 40-minute game,” she said.
Davis said she agreed that her team didn’t match the Gophers’ intensity in the final minutes.
“We kind of settled and was like ‘okay,’ but we need to keep pushing
forward,” Davis said. “While we were maintaining, they were coming a
little bit harder toward us.”
Mental errors cost the Hoosiers in the last 90 seconds of the game.
Senior guard Whitney Lindsay was called for a 5-second inbounds
violation at the 1:23 mark with the Hoosiers down by three, while Davis
dribbled the ball off her foot with five seconds left.
The turnover would lead to a Minnesota transition layup with a second left giving the Gophers their final points.
“Well we certainly weren’t 100 percent mentally focused when you make
those mistakes,” Legette-Jack said. “That five-second call is totally a
coach’s fault. We knew that she was struggling, and we didn’t make that
call fast enough, and I take full responsibility for that.”
Davis led all scorers with 22 points, while fellow seniors Hope Elam and Lindsay each chipped in 14.
However, it was not enough to stop a Minnesota inside game that outscored IU 26-8 in the paint.
The Hoosiers’ post-season aspirations now have all but vanished, given
that if they win the rest of their games, their record will stand at
14-14.
IU will look to break the eight-game skid when they play host to Wisconsin on Sunday.
(01/31/11 5:33am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>This isn’t the season that IU head coach Felisha Legette-Jack had in mind for her senior class, the players that made up her first recruiting class when she arrived in Bloomington.Point guard Whitney Lindsay is injured, while fellow seniors Jori Davis and Hope Elam find themselves carrying a team that is now 8-13 on the season and 2-7 in the Big Ten.The Hoosiers continued to struggle Sunday as they lost 71-57 at Purdue, completing a series sweep for the Boilermakers this season. The defeat marks IU’s seventh straight loss.The senior duo of Elam and Davis led the Hoosiers, scoring 18 and 17 points, respectively. But their scoring effort was not enough, as the seven remaining Hoosiers scored a combined 22 points and could not seem to come up with defensive stops when it was needed.After three consecutive 3-pointers by Hope Elam, the Hoosiers cut the lead to 52-43 and forced Purdue to call a timeout with 8:11 remaining. However, back-to-back 3-pointers from guard Courtney Moses gave Purdue a run of its own, ultimately giving the Boilermakers their largest lead of the game at 20 points with 4:21 left.Four of Purdue’s starters scored in double figures, with Moses leading all scorers with 23 points on 5-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc. The Boilermakers felt comfortable from the perimeter all game, making 8-of-17 3-pointers, in a game in which they never trailed.Purdue coach Sharon Versyp said the absence of injured Lindsay was a big difference.“I think she’s the key to their defense,” Versyp said about the IU defense without Lindsay. “When you have a player that sets the tone, as a point guard, defensively, I think that hurts a little bit.”Legette-Jack agreed with Versyp.“She’s been our point guard, the head of the body,” Legette-Jack said. “It’s very difficult to play without your head. It’s unfortunate we’re having this kind of year her senior year, she’s a special player. The entourage we have because of injuries has really made it a challenge to showcase what she can do and what we can do as a team. Yes, Whitney Lindsay was really missed today.”Looking back on the season as a whole, Legette-Jack said despite not giving her seniors the ideal final year, her team has to continue with persistence.“It’s one of those years we’re just going to have to continue to show resiliency and not ask for anybody to feel sorry for us,” Legette-Jack said. “We’re just going to have to continue to fight and find our way and learn the lessons as we go on.”
(01/24/11 3:50am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU women’s basketball team (8-12, 2-6) lost its sixth straight game Sunday, falling to Penn State (16-5, 5-2) 82-69.The Hoosiers were dominated in the rebounding battle, 61-36. PSU forwards Nikki Greene and Mia Nickson outrebounded IU’s rebounding total alone, pulling down 20 and 17 boards, respectively.IU played from behind for nearly the entire game. The Hoosier’s largest lead of the game was at the 17:05 mark of the first half with the score 6-2.One of the few bright spots for the Hoosiers was the scoring effort of junior forward Hope Elam. She shot 6-of-15 from the field and 5-of-10 from beyond the arc to finish with 21 points. However, Elam’s five 3-pointers were the only baskets from long range that the Hoosiers made. As a team, IU shot 26.3 percent from 3-point range.The Hoosiers’ defense limited the Lady Lions to a 35.1 field goal percentage, but ultimately, IU couldn’t contain Nickson.The Penn State sophomore forward recorded a double-double against IU, including 17 rebounds — 14 of which were offensive — and 25 points.According to an interview done after the game on www.gopsusports.com, Nickson said the Hoosiers’ rebounding woes came from leaving the paint open.“I think that they thought that our shooters were going to take control of the game, so when the shot went up they were really concerned with boxing out the shooter,” she said. “They left the paint wide open for Nikki (Greene) and me to go up and get the ball.”In that same interview, IU coach Legette-Jack said this loss represents another opportunity for her team to learn from its mistakes.“Our post players kind of went to sleep, but we’re a work in progress,” Legette-Jack said. “We’re never going to get used to losing or learning these lessons through defeats. We’re going to go back to the drawing board and try to figure out how we stop another Mia (Nickson) moving forward.”
(01/20/11 5:45am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>On Dec. 5 the Indiana women’s basketball team ended Nebraska’s 37 regular-season game winning streak in Assembly Hall, with 1,628 in attendance.When the IU men’s team played host to Penn State on Dec. 27, 14,952 people came to watch the Hoosiers as they lost by nine.Two teams sharing the same storied arena, school name and sport were separated by a difference of 13,324 fans.At IU and across the nation, the difference between men’s and women’s basketball is clear. The women’s brand of basketball lags behind in the ticket office and television ratings.IU women’s basketball head coach Felisha Legette-Jack understands her team’s role and accepts it.“We want you to understand who we are. We are a women’s basketball team, we play under the rim and it’s a beautiful game,” she said. “If you like the Bobby Knight system, you’re going to appreciate us because we’re not the high-flying, dunking team and neither were his teams.”But the fact still remains that at the beginning of each home game, 14 student athletes run onto Branch McCracken Court, look into the stands and see scattered pockets of fans, which rarely extend past the first few rows of the main level.Is this a level of normalcy felt only at IU, or are these attendance numbers uniform across the Big Ten?How the Hoosiers stack upLast season, IU ranked ninth in the Big Ten for average attendance at home women’s basketball games.Averaging 2,097 fans a game (12 percent of Assembly Hall’s 17,472 seat capacity), the Hoosier faithful were ahead of Illinois (1,819 fans per game) and Northwestern (973 fans per game). Topping the list was a familiar in-state rival, Purdue.In the 2009-10 season, the Boilermakers averaged 7,200 fans per game, good enough to fill 50.9 percent of Mackey Arena’s 14,123 seats. Rounding out the list of the Big Ten’s top three fan bases were Michigan State with 41.9 percent and Wisconsin, who filled 32.8 percent of the Kohl Center.Nationally last year, Purdue and the rest of the Big Ten held their own.The Boilermakers ranked fifth in the country, while six other Big Ten teams were ranked in the top 50. IU was not one of them.The Hoosiers’ attendance numbers do not compare favorably with schools from across the conference and country. But who’s to blame?Is it the women’s basketball program for not having been to the NCAA Tournament since 2002? The marketing department for not promoting the team enough?Or does blame rest solely on the IU/Bloomington community, who fail to consistently attend games?The answer is not so black-and-white. What’s winning got to do with it?On Feb. 10, 2009, ESPN.com columnist Pat Forde wrote a column entitled “Hoops schools vs. non-hoops schools.” In the column, Forde analyzed the steadily high attendance of traditional men’s basketball powers such as IU against those programs which didn’t enjoy such a rich history.Forde found that during that 2008-09 season, the Hoosier faithful continually packed Assembly Hall while Arizona State (not normally a basketball power) enjoyed a top-25 ranking, but failed to draw IU’s attendance numbers.To show a correlation (or lack thereof) between winning and attendance, Forde calculated the difference between attendance and winning percentage.While applying this formula to Big Ten women’s basketball in the context of this article, the difference will be named a “fan score.” The higher the fan score, the better it reflects on a school’s attendance.For example, last season, Purdue finished fifth in the Big Ten and had an overall record of 15-17. On average, their fans filled 50.9 percent of Mackey Arena and earned a 46.8 winning percentage.Their fan score of 4.1 reflects strong fan loyalty despite a non-winning percentage. However, Purdue Associate Sports Information Director Sara White said this number can be deceiving. “Last year was Purdue’s first losing season in 25 years. The history of success plays a big factor (in attendance),” White said.Elsewhere, Ohio State finished first in the Big Ten last season. However, their fan score of -63.7 is significantly worse than the Boilermakers. The Buckeyes were winning, but not many people were there to see it.IU’s fan score was not as low as Ohio State, but it would have been if Assembly Hall fit 19,500 patrons like Value City Arena in Columbus. Whereas the Boilermakers had a lot of fans but didn’t win a lot, and the Buckeyes won a lot but did not host many fans, the Hoosiers neither won nor drew fans.With a fan score of -34 last season, the Hoosiers won 46 percent of their games, but filled 12 percent of Assembly Hall on average.However, since Legette-Jack’s first season at the helm (2006-07) attendance has steadily grown when Assembly Hall was 8.1 percent full.IU Senior Assistant Athletic Director for Marketing Pat Kraft recognizes that winning will help attendance, but it does not have to be the sole factor.“We as a marketing staff and as a department do not concern ourselves with wins and losses. We have to continually keep people involved in all of our sports,” he said. “I’m not naive. When you win, crowds come. But that’s not always the case.. Yes, winning helps the whole process, but our fans that we get there — we average about 2,100 fans — they’re loyal.” The Marketing PushAs the fan score shows, winning plays a role in a program’s attendance numbers.But, as Kraft said, it should not be a detriment to a marketing department’s efforts to draw larger crowds.Realistically, programs across the Big Ten agree on what audience will attend women’s basketball game and who will not.Wisconsin Associate Director of Athletic Communications Diane Nordstrom said she thinks families are key.“One thing that we have done at Wisconsin, and it has worked very well, is gear our attendance towards families,” she said. “Making the event more family friendly by making the players available for autographs and kids being able to see the players close up.”White said she agrees that the same applies at Purdue.“College students make up a very small percentage of our crowd. It’s a lot of Purdue employees, a lot of retirees, it’s a lot of families with children. We’ve tried to reach out to the students more and more, but honestly it’s a tough sell to the student body in general because if they’re basketball fans, more than likely they’re going to go to the men’s games,” she said. “I’ve been involved with college women’s basketball for over 20 years and traditionally across the country, it’s your older folks and families with children that is your fan base for college women’s basketball.”Marketing representatives from IU, Wisconsin and Purdue all said they offer special ticket discount packages to draw families to games, promotions with youth basketball teams and a breast cancer awareness game.However, Purdue separated itself from other schools with the BOILERmaker NETwork.“The most important factor is the community support, but specifically, the BOILERmaker NETwork, which is the women’s basketball booster organization,” White said. “Their membership is close to 400 people. I know they have drives every year where they encourage members to not only buy season tickets, but to get at least one more person to buy season tickets.”According to its website, the BOILERmaker NETwork also holds receptions, buses to away games (similar to IU’s Win Wagon) and their own newsletter.Kraft said one of the main difficulties his department has is reaching out past the Bloomington community.“And that’s how a lot of our sports are grown: through the local community. When we played last night, that’s a hard game for folks in Indianapolis, Evansville, Fort Wayne or wherever to come to,” he said. “So a lot of our sports — volleyball, soccer, softball — are based out of the Bloomington community.”Embracing the faithfulNo matter what the numbers are, or how they stack up against the rest of the Big Ten, Legette-Jack and her team say they are just appreciative of the loyal fans who show up game after game.“We do have a lot of loyal fans, fans that come to every single game,” senior guard Whitney Lindsay said. “They inspire us. It does give you a sense of more people are believing in you and more people have your back, knowing you’re about to go into a tough battle.”Her coach agreed that it is a matter of quality over quantity.“It’d be really cool to have kids come to Indiana and play in front of our audience of 10,000 plus,” coach Legette-Jack said. “But, we’ll keep the 1,600 that want to be here.”
(01/14/11 5:54am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Former IU soccer players Will Bruin and Rich Balchan were selected 11th and 12th respectively in the MLS SuperDraft on Thursday in Baltimore, Md.Bruin, who left college in his junior year to pursue the MLS, was picked in the first round by the Houston Dynamo. Houston also had the 7th pick in the draft but traded up to acquire the standout Hoosier forward.Defender Rich Balchan heard his name called shortly after, picked by the Columbus Crew with the 12th pick. The Carmel, Ind., native was named first-team All-Big Ten in his senior season with the Hoosiers.
(01/14/11 5:43am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Illinois women’s basketball coach Jolette Law splits each game into four key blocks of time. “In this game,” she said. “It’s going to come down to the first five minutes of the first half, the last five minutes of the first half, and then after halftime, the same thing — the first five minutes and the last five minutes.”During IU’s 74-67 loss to the Illini on Thursday night, IU coach Felisha Legette-Jack’s team failed to execute in the last five minutes of the game.“We got to have a knockout punch,” coach Legette-Jack said. “We’re not knocking people out. We’re not seeing blood and going after it.”IU junior guard Alisha Goodwin shot 6-of-11 from the field to give her 14 points. She attributed her team’s late-game struggles to poor defense.“We just needed to get stops on defense,” Goodwin said. “And we didn’t do that, and that cost us the game.”Illinois (7-10, 2-2) led the Hoosiers (8-9, 2-3) by two heading into halftime and grabbed their largest lead with nine with 11:34 remaining in the game.Coach Legette-Jack’s squad then went on an 11-2 run at the 10:36 mark to ultimately tie the score at 50 with 8:09 left in the game.However, the Hoosiers’ run was not sustainable, as the Illini were able to outscore IU 11-to-3 in the final 2:52 of the game to pull out a victory.Illinois’ late run was sparked by freshman guard Amber Moore who hit a mid-range floater from the corner while surrounded by Hoosier defenders to give the Illini a six-point lead with under a minute remaining.“I don’t know why I did the floater, but I just felt like it was going in.” Moore said.Moore led all scorers with 27 points off 9-of-17 shooting and 7-of-12 from the three-point arc. Coach Legette-Jack said there wasn’t much stopping the sharpshooting guard.“[Moore] was hitting some unbelievable shots,” coach Legette-Jack said. “I can’t even get mad at the team. They were right there in her face.”While Moore was lighting up the scoreboard, the Hoosiers’ own leading scorer was having trouble getting her shots to fall. Senior guard Jori Davis, who leads the team in points on the season, scored three points in the first half and finished the game with 16 on 5-of-21 shooting.Coach Law said she made sure her team made Davis a priority. “At all times we had the whole team making sure we ID’d where number 32 was,” coach Law said.With the loss Thursday, the Hoosiers extend their losing streak to three games. Coach Legette-Jack said she believes her team needs to make some adjustments if they hope to reach postseason play.“This is a team that lost our swagger a little bit,” she said. “And we just got to get that back.”
(01/10/11 6:06am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU women’s basketball coach Felisha Legette-Jack and the her team went to Florida during winter break, but it wasn’t for the sun, beach and relaxation. Rather, the Hoosiers’ trip to the Sunshine State signaled the kickoff of a six-game stretch that carried major offseason implications.After splitting back-to-back road games at Florida International (6-11), a 64-60 win and a 73-69 loss against Florida Gulf Coast (12-0), the Hoosiers entered Big Ten season play with a .500 record at 6-6. This meant that Legette-Jack’s squad would have to amass a winning conference record to be considered eligible for the NCAA tournament — something never done during the coach’s four-year tenure at IU.Against FGCU, center Sasha Chaplin (who missed a portion of last season with a toe injury) injured her knee, keeping her out for the remainder of the season. Despite the loss of their starting center, the Hoosiers welcomed the arrival of transfer forward Georgie Jones, who first became eligible to play against FIU.Returning home to Assembly Hall, the Hoosiers knew that their offseason aspirations rested on the result of each remaining game. IU opened their Big Ten season with a 71-69 home win against Northwestern (13-4) on Dec. 30. The team looked to take the momentum of a victory against the Wildcats into their next game — a showdown on the road against Minnesota (8-8).Against the Gophers, IU was able to come from behind and force overtime after guard Jori Davis made a layup with 29 seconds remaining in regulation. The Hoosiers were able to ultimately outlast the Gophers by a score of 80-79. Davis tied her season high with 31 points, as the Hoosiers improved to a perfect 2-0 start to the Big Ten season. Next up were the defending conference champions, Ohio State (10-5).All-American senior center Jantel Lavender and her Ohio State teammates were looking for revenge after a smaller Hoosiers squad upset the Buckeyes last year in Assembly Hall. This year, Legette-Jack’s team still had their underdog status but walked off the court without a victory. The Hoosiers fell to OSU in Columbus, 83-65. IU had no answer to the Buckeyes’ superior inside game, as the Hoosiers were outscored in the paint and outrebounded.Now the Hoosiers stare at an 8-8 record after falling to Purdue (11-5) on Sunday. Their 2-2 conference record will be tested once again when they attempt to defend their home floor against Illinois on Thursday.
(01/10/11 6:01am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Indiana women’s basketball coach Felisha Legette-Jack had a simple diagnosis for her team’s shortcomings on Sunday.“They wanted it more than us,” she said.Her Hoosier squad dropped its second straight game, losing to Purdue, 55-50 in Assembly Hall.IU (8-8, 2-2) was plagued by 24 turnovers and a lack of offensive production. Coach Legette-Jack recognized her team’s defense, which limited the Boilermakers (11-5, 2-2) to shooting 29.3 percent from the field, but said the Hoosiers did not take advantage offensively.The Hoosiers’ leading scorer, senior guard Jori Davis, shot 4-of-16 from the floor and was limited to 12 points. Despite the lack of offense, IU was able to keep the score close in a game that had six lead changes and saw the score tied seven times.Ultimately, the Hoosiers’ last opportunity to tie the game came with 13 seconds left, when they were down by three points. In a controversial possession, sophomore forward Aulani Sinclair hoisted a contested three-point shot, which many fans believed warranted a foul call. Coach Legette-Jack said whether it was the right call or not, her team should have never put itself in a position to have one shot win or lose the game. “I saw it one way, obviously they (the officials) didn’t see it that way,” she said. “It should never come down to a last second shot, though.”Senior guard Whitney Lindsay, who led all scorers with 18 points, also placed blame on the team.“No one was confident enough to shoot the ball,” Lindsay said. “We just ended up putting up a bad shot. It wasn’t an open shot.”In a rivalry game that saw many hotly contested calls by the officials in front of a crowd of 7,143 fans, coach Legette-Jack summed up her feelings following the game in five words.“It just wasn’t our day,” she said.
(01/07/11 4:33am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU women’s basketball team (8-7) will be playing for more than an improvement to their 2-1 conference record against rival Purdue (9-5) on Sunday at Assembly Hall.The Hoosiers will be competing for the annual Barn Burner Trophy, the rivalry trophy awarded to the victor of the Indiana-Purdue women’s basketball game each season. The award currently resides in West Lafayette after the Boilermakers defeated coach Felisha Legette-Jack’s squad 76-66 last year in Mackey Arena.The matchup, which is scheduled to tip-off at 2 p.m., will feature two teams with similar overall records, but very different starts to their conference schedules. The Hoosiers currently sit fourth in the Big Ten standings after beginning conference play with a 2-1 record. Purdue, despite a better overall record, is in 10th place with an 0-2 conference record.Legette-Jack said in a teleconference Tuesday that her team’s recent success hasn’t been a result of any adjustment by the team or coaches.“Nothing has changed,” she said. “We’ve just been consistent with our work ethic.”One factor that has stayed constant in the Hoosiers’ conference victories against Minnesota and Northwestern is the scoring efforts of guard Jori Davis. The senior captain was the lead scorer in both games with 24 and 31 points, respectively.Davis has been assisted by senior forward Hope Elam who scored in double figures in both Big Ten victories and sophomore forward Aulani Sinclair who recorded a double-double on Dec. 30 in a win against Northwestern.On the other end of the sideline, the Boilermakers will look for freshman guard Courtney Moses to continue her breakout season. The Sweetser, Ind. native is leading the team in three-point percentage (.476) and is second in points per game with 12.6 points.The game will be IU’s annual “Head to the Hall” game, meaning all tickets will be sold for $1 to the general public. Students, faculty and staff will gain admission for free.
(01/07/11 4:28am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU women’s basketball team (8-7) will be playing for more than an improvement to their 2-1 conference record against rival Purdue (9-5) on Sunday at Assembly Hall.The Hoosiers will be competing for the annual Barn Burner Trophy, the rivalry trophy awarded to the victor of the Indiana-Purdue women’s basketball game each season. The award currently resides in West Lafayette after the Boilermakers defeated coach Felisha Legette-Jack’s squad 76-66 last year in Mackey Arena.The matchup, which is scheduled to tip-off at 2 p.m., will feature two teams with similar overall records, but very different starts to their conference schedules. The Hoosiers currently sit fourth in the Big Ten standings after beginning conference play with a 2-1 record. Purdue, despite a better overall record, is in 10th place with an 0-2 conference record.Legette-Jack said in a teleconference Tuesday that her team’s recent success hasn’t been a result of any adjustment by the team or coaches.“Nothing has changed,” she said. “We’ve just been consistent with our work ethic.”One factor that has stayed constant in the Hoosiers’ conference victories against Minnesota and Northwestern is the scoring efforts of guard Jori Davis. The senior captain was the lead scorer in both games with 24 and 31 points, respectively.Davis has been assisted by senior forward Hope Elam who scored in double figures in both Big Ten victories and sophomore forward Aulani Sinclair who recorded a double-double on Dec. 30 in a win against Northwestern.On the other end of the sideline, the Boilermakers will look for freshman guard Courtney Moses to continue her breakout season. The Sweetser, Ind. native is leading the team in three-point percentage (.476) and is second in points per game with 12.6 points.The game will be IU’s annual “Head to the Hall” game, meaning all tickets will be sold for $1 to the general public. Students, faculty and staff will gain admission for free.
(12/09/10 5:33am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU women’s basketball team (5-3) will try to extend a three-game winning streak at home against a 4-3 Miami (OH) squad, before leaving Bloomington for a three-game road trip.When the game tips off at 7 p.m. today, the Hoosiers will be facing a Redhawks team bringing their momentum into Assembly Hall. Miami’s own three-game win streak was capped off on Monday, when they beat Marshall by the biggest margin of their season, 89-63.IU head coach Felisha Legette-Jack said two native Hoosiers, guards Courtney Osborn and Maggie Boyer, pose the biggest threat to her team. “Their point guard (Osborn) is doing a tremendous job of scoring, she went for 26 the other night. Maggie Boyer is a great left hand shooter who can get you off the bounce, and those two are really a major concern for us,” Legette-Jack said. “They’re local kids too, from Indiana. They’re Hoosiers just like we are, so they want to prove they belong as well. So it’s going to be very difficult to stop those two, but if we can stop them, I think that we’ll have a better chance.”While trying to contain Osborn and Boyer, the Hoosiers will rely on their experienced captains to steer the ship. The squad’s leading scorer, rebounder and assist-leader are all seniors. Senior captain Jori Davis is scoring 17.6 points per game and pulling down 7.1 rebounds per game, while senior point guard Whitney Lindsay is averaging 4.6 assists per game. Davis has been the leading scorer in four of the Hoosier’s five wins this season.The Hoosiers are coming off an upset win against then No. 24/19 ranked Nebraska on Sunday, ending the Cornhuskers 37-regular game winning streak. But coach Legette-Jack continues to see opportunities to improve her team.“We’re going to continue to focus on us; there’s so many things that we have to get better at, moving forward,” she said. “We have to get our slides better on defense, continue to make that extra pass on the offense end, run our lanes better in transition and once we start locking in on that we will start seeing results.”
(12/06/10 5:23am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The last time the Nebraska women’s basketball team lost a regular season game was Feb. 28, 2009.Since then, the No. 24/19 Cornhuskers had won 37 straight games in regular season play, including three games earlier this season in which they scored 90-plus points.However, Sunday afternoon in Assembly Hall, the IU women’s basketball team made sure it would not witness Husker win No. 38 on its home floor, defeating Nebraska 67-61.Senior guard Jori Davis said she and her teammates were not even aware that the streak existed.“It’s not really about them, it’s about us getting this next win that we really needed as a team,” Davis said. “Sorry we had to break it, but we were at home, and we had to protect our home court.”On paper, the odds were stacked against the Hoosiers.Their squad was without forwards Sasha Chaplin and Kristiana Stauere against an already taller Nebraska team.Four of the five Cornhusker starters were averaging double figures in points per game this season.However, IU coach Felisha Legette-Jack said she knew that in order for her team to win, it would have to play to its strengths.“With this team here, resiliency comes to mind. We know our deficiencies. We know that we’re short and have guards playing the post, we know our shots aren’t going to fall all the time. But what happens if we forget about what we can’t do and just do the things that we can do?” she said. “We can play defense, we can play as a unit, we can defend what we believe belongs to us, and today they illustrated that, and I couldn’t be more proud of this team than I am today.”Legette-Jack said part of the Hoosiers’ game plan against Nebraska was to nullify the scoring of guard Lindsey Moore, who was scoring an average of 12.3 points per game. “It’s very difficult to play without the head, and we knew that (Moore) was the head of their body,” Legette-Jack said.The Hoosier defense held Moore to a single point throughout the game while limiting the Cornhuskers to their lowest score of the season.“We were calling out the shooters, the cutters, everything,” junior forward Danilsa Andujar said. “We communicated where their shooters were at all times and just got out there and worked hard.”In a game that saw 13 lead changes and a margin no bigger than eight points, every possession became a battle down the stretch.With 10 minutes remaining in the game, Davis took an elbow to her face and was lying on the ground in pain while play was stopped. The inadvertent hit left the Hoosiers’ leading scorer and rebounder holding her left eye as she was helped off the court.With her team up 49-47, Davis watched from the bench during the next three minutes as the lead evaporated into a two-point deficit. Following a media timeout, she checked back in and played the remainder of the game.“It was a little pain, but we were playing Nebraska, No. 19,” Davis said. “I could not sit down and let a little pain stop me from getting back on that court.”With their senior leader on the floor, the Hoosiers once again swapped the lead with the Cornhuskers twice. Then, in a play that Legette-Jack said “changed the game,” senior guard Whitney Lindsay assisted Andrea McGuirt for a reverse layup and foul with 1:14 to play. The three-point play ignited a 4-0 Hoosier run in the last minute of the game to solidify the upset victory.After the loss, Nebraska coach Connie Yori said it was the intangibles not on the stat sheet that gave the Hoosiers a win. “You have to give them credit. I thought they played with a lot of energy and a lot of passion,” Yori said. “It looked like they were the team that wanted it more.”
(12/03/10 5:19am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU women’s basketball team would not allow its record to define its squad or its future.Coach Felisha Legette-Jack made that clear following the team’s win against Cleveland State last week, which evened the Hoosiers’ record to 3-3.“This is a special team, and I won’t get carried away with a 3 and 3 record right now,” she said. “But whether we win the rest of them or not, I just love these young ladies. They are bigger than wins and losses.”At no point were these words truer than Thursday night, when the Hoosiers walked into Littlejohn Coliseum with a 3-3 record and left with a victory against a one-loss Clemson team, 65-51.For the fourth time this season, senior guard Jori Davis led all Hoosier scorers. Her 17 points and five rebounds were closely followed by sophomore Aulani Sinclair’s career-high 15 points off the bench. Sinclair shot 5-of-9 from the field and was a perfect 3-of-3 from the free throw line.However, the key for IU against Clemson was defense.Entering Thursday’s game, the Tigers averaged 68.5 points per game. IU held Clemson to 51 points off 31 percent shooting. The Hoosiers also won the turnover battle by committing 15 turnovers to the Tigers’ 23. Senior guard Whitney Lindsay forced four steals and had six assists, which were game highs.Clemson came within two points of the Hoosiers (50-48) with 7:56 remaining in the game. Indiana then went on a run of its own, outscoring the Tigers 15-3 to close out the game.The victory was not only a win for the Hoosiers, but also a win for the Big Ten in the annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge. The ACC ultimately won the Challenge, four wins to three.“It was exciting representing Indiana on the road, and we take that very seriously,” Legette-Jack said following the game. “It was bigger than just Indiana this time. It was for our Big Ten Conference, it was the challenge. ... and in order for us to be good, it had to come through our defense.”— Avi Zaleon
(11/18/10 4:48am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU women’s basketball team faces its third test of the season at 7 p.m. today against Memphis at Assembly Hall.The Hoosiers are coming off a perfect 2-0 start to the season after victories against Ball State and St. Bonaventure.The Tigers (1-1) will rely on the inside scoring ability of junior forward Jasmine Lee, who transferred from Georgia last year. Against Grambling State on Monday, Lee recorded her first career double-double, leading her team with 21 points and 13 rebounds.IU coach Felisha Legette-Jack’s team will try to counter Memphis’ powerful inside game with a stingy defense, which has held opponents to an average of 55 points while forcing a total of 47 turnovers.On offense, the Hoosiers continue to receive quality minutes from guard Alisha “Goody” Goodwin. The junior transfer from Jefferson College has averaged the team’s third-highest point total with 11.5 points per game while playing the fifth-lowest amount of minutes per game, 16.5.Fellow guard senior Jori Davis continues to assert herself as the team’s leader. Her 32 points and 21 rebounds this year are both team highs.In order to beat the Tigers and keep their record spotless, the Hoosiers will look to win the battle on the glass for rebounds as well as continue to score points off turnovers.
(11/16/10 5:25am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU women’s basketball team was able to slip past a scrappy St. Bonaventure team Monday.After IU gained its largest lead of 14 points with 5:36 remaining in the game, the Bonnies ultimately cut the deficit to fall by just six as the Hoosiers claimed a 50-44 victory at Assembly Hall.“We’ll take an ugly win over a pretty loss any day,” IU coach Felisha Legette-Jack said.The Hoosiers found themselves down early as St. Bonaventure pulled out to a 15-14 lead with 7:52 remaining in the first half. However, a Jori Davis field goal and a subsequent Bonnies shot clock violation provided enough of a spark to give the Hoosiers momentum. A 19-3 run to close the first half proved to be enough to give the Hoosiers a 2-0 start to the season.“They’re a very scrappy team; this was a big stage for them, and they really wanted to perform well,” Davis said. “They continued to fight. They never gave up. We went up by over 10 points at one point, and they never gave up.”Senior forward Hope Elam struggled to find her jump shot early but finished the game strong, leading all Hoosier scorers with 15 points.A day after her birthday, sophomore forward Aulani Sinclair got a belated present, shooting 4-of-6 from the field and 2-of-3 from 3-point range on her way to 10 points and four rebounds.“In practice the last couple days, we’ve been focusing on looking for the open shot and not being hesitant if I’m open to take it,” Sinclair said. “So tonight in our offense, I just worked on what we’ve been working on in practice, and if I had an open shot, I was going to take it.“Coach Jack and the team have given me the OK to be great, so I’m just trying to fill that role and support the team as best as I can.”However, the Hoosiers struggled in the paint.Still without sophomore center Sasha Chaplin, Legette-Jack’s squad was outrebounded 40-30. St. Bonaventure’s only starting forward, junior Megan Van Tatenhove, led all players with 18 points and 13 rebounds. On offense, the Hoosiers were unable to find easy looks, shooting 35 percent from the field and scoring 18 of their 50 points in the paint.“We’re a little disappointed we got outrebounded,” Legette-Jack said. “Those are the hustle and heart plays. What won us this game was our staying power.”
(11/15/10 5:56am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Senior guard Jori Davis scored 19 points and pulled down 15 rebounds in a 81-66 win against Ball State on Friday.Davis was a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line, led the team with four assists and tied the team high with three steals on the defensive end.Off the bench, junior guard Alisha Goodwin and senior forward Hope Elam provided the Hoosiers with added depth. Goodwin contributed 19 points while Elam shot 6-of-11 from the field for 12 points. In total, five Hoosiers scored in double figures against the Cardinals.Although coach Felisha Legette-Jack’s team finished the game with a 15-point victory, the Hoosiers struggled early. At halftime, IU was only ahead by two, 38-36.In a statement by Legette-Jack from IU Athletics, she attributed the second-half turnaround to senior guard Andrea McGuirt, who ignited the team. “Because of her defense, Jori and Alisha carried us,” she said in the statement. “But Andrea McGuirt is the one that carried us on defense.”For the second straight week, the Hoosiers played without injured sophomore center Sasha Chaplin. Following the team’s exhibition game against University of Indianapolis last week, Legette-Jack remained optimistic that Chaplin’s foot would be healthy enough for her to play against Ball State. However, the Hoosiers wanted their starting center to be 100 percent healthy before putting her in the lineup.Despite Chaplin’s absence, the Hoosiers were able to outrebound the Cardinals 41-37, an area the team is hopeful to improve upon and succeed in as the season continues.The Hoosiers take on St. Bonaventure in their home opener at 7 p.m. today.
(11/12/10 3:11am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Pack up your things. Travel across the globe to a different continent. Adapt to a different culture, language and people.Oh, and also take four years of college courses.Sound difficult?Not to freshman center Kristiana Stauere.“The biggest difficulty was the time adjustment,” she said. “My home in Latvia is seven hours ahead from here. Everyone, including my teammates, coaches and even people on the street, everyone has been extremely helpful. So I haven’t really had any problems.”The big move was obviously not an issue for the 6-foot-4 center, who has been in the spotlight her entire life.Brought up by parents who both played basketball, Stauere began playing at 12 years old. She was the tallest girl in her high school. The Latvian national team quickly took notice of her natural talent for basketball and invited her to play on the country’s U-16 age grouping national team. On the U-16 squad, Stauere averaged 3.2 blocked shots per game. She experienced similar success on the older U-18 team, where she shot more than 50 percent from the field.But the prospect of playing overseas didn’t begin for the high school standout until earlier last year.“I started getting interest in my senior year of high school from a lot of universities and junior colleges,” Stauere said. “When I was looking at other schools on the Internet, I don’t know what was different about IU, but it just felt like the right place to be. It’s hard to explain.”Because of restrictions, Stauere did not visit any of the schools recruiting her, but she ultimately chose to play for coach Felisha Legette-Jack at IU.“It’s really an incredible thing to see this lady come from another country and absorb our personalities and blend,” Legette-Jack said. “I adore this kid, and she is probably one of the smartest you’re ever going to meet.”After playing overseas for the summer, Stauere had to come to Bloomington in the fall and quickly start adapting to the differences on and off the court.As one of four new Hoosier forwards, the Latvianfreshman was put into an up-tempo style of play, requiring a learning curve after playing in Europe her whole life.Senior guard Jori Davis emphasized the importance of having fast forwards.“With us being a running team, and the post being quick, that will definitely work to our advantage,” Davis said. “With a quick post being able to rack up points, it just all works together.”Stauere said Legette-Jack and the coaching staff have prioritized conditioning and getting their team in shape for the 2010-11 campaign.But before the coaches can see if those hours doing suicides in Cook Hall have paid off, they can enjoy the anticipation and excitement of a new season with their lengthy recruit from across the Atlantic.“I think she is going to be an excellent presence for us on the perimeter. We’re excited about our future with her,” Legette-Jack said. “If you haven’t gotten a chance to meet Kri yet, you’re going to enjoy her, because she’s a special kid.”
(11/08/10 5:25am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU women’s basketball team wasted no time.Six seconds into Saturday’s final exhibition game against the University of Indianapolis, senior guard Whitney Lindsay scored a quick layup with a foul and then grabbed a steal during Indianapolis’ first possession. The Hoosiers’ lead would grow as they jumped out to a 16-point advantage after 10 minutes of play.Easy points in the paint and a stingy defense were the keys to success for coach Felisha Legette-Jack’s team in its 76-41 victory.“Sometimes the game can be won or lost in the first five minutes,” Legette-Jack said. “I thought that Whitney [Lindsay] brought such energy out there defensively to create that synergy for our team. That ignited such enthusiasm that we took the lead and never looked back.”Lindsay caused four of the team’s 16 steals, which translated into 23 Hoosier points off of turnovers. The senior captain also scored eight points and led the team with seven assists.“I think a lot of our offense is going to come from transition this year because our defense is going to reflect our offense,” Lindsay said. “I like the energy that we’re bringing to the table, and if we start the game with offensive transition baskets, that’s how we need to start off all our games.”Throughout the game, Lindsay and her teammates fought for loose balls and swatted away passes on their way to forcing 25 UIndy turnovers.On the offensive side of the ball, the Hoosiers dominated the Greyhounds in the paint. A point of improvement for IU last season, Legette-Jack’s team scored 36 points in the paint to UIndy’s 2. The Hoosiers’ ball movement in the frontcourt gave easy looks to their forwards. Junior center Danilsa Andujar was one of five Hoosiers who scored in double figures, shooting a perfect five-for-five from the field.The Hoosiers were without starting center Sasha Chaplin, who Legette-Jack said would be healthy for their regular season opener against Ball State on Friday. In her absence, freshmen Kristiana Stauere, Milika Taufa and Simone Deloach were incorporated off the bench into the team’s rotation.“We have so many combinations we can use now, it’s going to be really neat,” Legette-Jack said. “We have some really good pieces of the puzzle, now we need to corral them. It’s up to my coaches to get to work and figure out what system we’re going to create to go up against a very stingy Ball State team.”
(10/18/10 4:13am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU women’s basketball coach Felisha Legette-Jack stepped onto Branch McCracken Court to fireworks, her team dancing and chants of “Coach Jack!” from a roaring crowd.But once the microphone was in the fifth-year coach’s hand, she knew which words she wanted echoed throughout Assembly Hall on Friday: “Hoo-sier Na-tion.”In front of a crowd of 13,100 at Hoosier Hysteria, Legette-Jack made it clear that in order for her team to succeed in the upcoming season, it will need the support of its fans. “We will do anything and everything to get you guys to see what we are doing,” she said.Senior guard Jori Davis also stressed the importance of better attendance at the Hoosiers’ home games in her final season.“With the sixth man, we will be too strong,” Davis said. “This is my senior year, and I have worked too hard not to get one of those [banners] like the guys.”Last season, the Hoosiers went 9-6 at home with a 5-4 mark in conference home games. On average, the Hoosiers faced larger crowds on the road (3,512 fans per game) than when they played in Assembly Hall (2,097 per game).Both Davis and Legette-Jack mentioned their upset of then-No. 4 Ohio State last season as an example of when the “sixth man” directly impacted their success. Despite being undermanned compared to the Buckeyes, the Hoosiers were able to beat Ohio State 67-62 in front of their second-largest crowd of the season.“We had seven players healthy against the No. 4-ranked team in the country,” Legette-Jack said. “And we beat them. Our men’s team is going to be dynamic this year, but their sisters are doing some things, too. I hope you join us as we take on yet another journey.”This season, IU hopes they won’t find themselves at as much of a height disadvantage with a recruitng class that features 6-foot forward Milika Taufa, 6-foot-3 center Simone Deloach and 6-foot-4 center Kristiana Stauere.Legette-Jack explained that the added size to her team will hopefully translate to more blocked shots, better rebounding and an overall stronger defensive team. Davis added that a lot of the team’s post players are “pretty quick, so it won’t slow us down very much because a lot of them can still run.” Stauere, the first Latvian to play for IU women’s basketball, said she looks to add to the team’s combination of size and speed. After playing on Latvia’s U-18 national team during the summer, Stauere said she underestimated Hoosier Hysteria when she returned to Bloomington.“Today everyone was asking me if I was excited,” Stauere said. “I told them, ‘Yeah, I am excited, but I don’t know what to expect because it is my first year.’ Now, I’m really excited.”
(05/07/10 2:07am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The philosophy of the newly renovated Earl C. “Billy” Hayes Track is simple.“If you build it, they will come,” IU coach Ron Helmer said. This phrase embodies the hope echoed throughout the IU track and field community — that the renovations to the outdoor track facility will make the school a Midwestern hub for the most talented athletes in the world. “Our intentions when we installed this were to have an area that would be a central point in the United States where college or USA Track and Field would want to bring meets,” Assistant Athletic Director for Facilities Chuck Crabb said. “We were looking for as fast a track as legally possible.” Although changes have been made to the infield and scoreboard, the focal point of renovations to The Robert C. Haugh Track & Field Complex is the new Polytan surface which replaces the old Mondo track. Events and Facilities Manager Jay Arthur explained that the new Polytan surface, made of polyurethane, has several advantages over the Mondo. “In addition to polyurethane being the surface all the world records are being broken on, if we need to down the road, this can be fixed without tearing the whole thing out,” Arthur said. “If you have a Mondo track, your option is to tear that Mondo out and put new Mondo down.” Crabb agrees that although the Mondo track was good for a period of time, it had reached its expiration. He said the new Polytan can be expected to last upward of 40 years if maintained properly. “The two-part rubber track we had previously, outstanding as it was, there’s no denying that,” Crabb said. “Witness the times of every Olymplics dating back to 1988 that’s been on Mondo surface. But, it’s a surface that tends to compact over time.“We took our Mondo Super X to the extent of its lifespan, so it became too hard.” This renovation project comes on the heels of several other facility upgrades around campus since Athletics Director Fred Glass started his tenure. But unlike the North End Zone in Memorial Stadium or the Cook Hall basketball facility, the renovation to Billy Hayes track comes with a relatively small price tag. Crabb said the renovation will be completed slightly under the anticipated $1.5 million budget. For now, the entire staff is eager to show off their new facility. This weekend the new track will play host to the annual Billy Hayes Invitational, and the 2010 Big Ten Championships will take place May 14-16. IU is also currently finalizing negotiations to host the 2010 Junior National Championships, an event which attracts the top college prospects every Olympic year. Three-time Olympian, world record-holder and former IU runner Bob Kennedy once referred to IU’s track as one of the best he had ever competed on. It is the hope that the new track will get the same recognition as the old surface did from elite runners around the world. “If we have people turning fast times, everyone in the world is going to want to run on it,” Arthur said.