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(01/10/14 5:39am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After a break in games during the week, the IU men’s basketball team will travel to University Park, Penn., Saturday to face the Nittany Lions.Both the Hoosiers (10-5, 0-2 conference) and the Nittany Lions (9-7, 0-3 conference) have yet to win a conference game this season.The Hoosiers came close to defeating Illinois on New Year’s Eve, falling to the Illini by three points in overtime. Jan. 4 was a different story.Michigan State left Bloomington with a 73-56 win, its largest margin of victory in Assembly Hall since 1990.Similar to IU, Penn State played MSU at home and Illinois on the road.The Nittany Lions fell to the Spartans 79-63, despite leading by seven at halftime, and were trampled by the Illini 75-55.Most recently, Penn State lost its third-straight Big Ten game Wednesday night to Minnesota by three points.In the closing seconds of the game, graduate student guard Allen Roberts missed what would have been a game-tying 3-pointer.Penn State enters its game against the Hoosiers averaging 77.4 points per game, which places them sixth in the Big Ten. Indiana averages 80.3 points per game, which comes in at third in the Big Ten.The Nittany Lions’ leading scorer is graduate student guard Tim Frazier, who averages 17.1 points per game.Four games into the 2012-13 season, Frazier tore the Achilles tendon in his left leg and missed the rest of the season. He was granted a fifth year of eligibility after receiving a medical hardship waiver from the NCAA.Frazier leads Penn State in assists and steals per game, averaging 6.9 and 1.8, respectively. He also leads the Big Ten in assists per game and places fifth in steals per game.Penn State Coach Patrick Chambers is in his third season as head coach of the Nittany Lions. Chambers coached at Boston University for two years before he came to Penn State.As a team, Penn State shoots 45.5 percent from the field, while their opponents are shooting 41.3 percent.Penn State also averages more than 20 3-point attempts per game, making just less than seven per game.In terms of handling the ball, Penn State turns the ball over 10.5 times per game, while turning its opponent over 10.8 times per contest.IU’s turnover problems have been a recurring issue in its recent contests, and the Hoosiers average just more than 16 per game.For the season, the Hoosiers have averaged three more turnovers per game than their opponents.After the team’s loss to Michigan State on Jan. 4, IU Coach Tom Crean said although he’d like to see improved play from the entire team, the sophomore players in particular have to play better.“We need to see more out of everybody,” Crean said. “I wouldn’t distinguish. When you lose a game, there’s not one class that doesn’t need to get better. But we’ve got the spotlight on the sophomores right now, if we’re going to break it down to class. They’ve got to improve.”Follow John Bauernfeind on Twitter @JohnBauernfeind.
(01/10/14 4:46am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After not playing a game during the week, the Indiana men’s basketball team will travel to University Park, Penn., Saturday to face the Nittany Lions.Both the Hoosiers (10-5, 0-2) and Nittany Lions (9-7, 0-3) have yet to win a Big Ten conference game this season. The Hoosiers came close to defeating Illinois on New Year’s Eve, falling to the Illini by three in overtime. This past Saturday was a different story; the Michigan State Spartans left Bloomington with a 73-56 win, their largest margin of victory in Assembly Hall since 1990.Similar to Indiana, Penn State has played Michigan State at home and Illinois on the road. The Nittany Lions fell to the Spartans 79-63, despite leading by seven at halftime, and were trampled by the Illini by a score of 75-55.Most recently, Penn State lost its third straight Big Ten game on Wednesday night to Minnesota by three points. In the closing seconds of that game, graduate student guard Allen Roberts missed a would-be game tying 3-pointer.Penn State enters its game against the Hoosiers averaging 77.4 points per game, which ranks sixth in the Big Ten. Indiana averages 80.3 points per game, which comes in at third in the Big Ten.The Nittany Lions’ leading scorer is graduate student guard Tim Frazier, who averages 17.1 points per game. Four games into the 2013-14 season, Frazier tore the Achilles tendon in his left leg and missed the rest of the season. He was granted a fifth year of eligibility after applying for (and receiving) a medical hardship waiver from the NCAA.Frazier also leads Penn State in assists and steals per game, averaging 6.9 and 1.8 in those categories. Frazier leads the Big Ten in assists per game and places fifth in steals per game.Penn State Coach Patrick Chambers is in his third season as head coach of the Nittany Lions. Previously, Chambers had coached for two years before he came to Penn State. As a team, Penn State shoots 45.5 percent from the field, while they’re opponent’s average 41.3 percent. Penn State also averages over 20 3-point attempts per game, making just less than seven per game.In terms of handling the ball, Penn State turns the ball over roughly 10.5 times per game, while turning its opponent over 10.8 times per contest.Indiana’s turnover problems have been a recurring issue in its recent contests, and it averages a shade over 16 per game. For the season, the Hoosiers have averaged three more turnovers per game than its opponents.After his team's loss to Michigan State on Jan. 4, IU Coach Tom Crean said although he’d like to see improved play from the entire team, specifically the sophomore’s on the team have to play better.“We need to see more out of everybody,” Crean said. “I wouldn’t distinguish. When you lose a game, there’s not one class that doesn’t need to get better. But we’ve got the spotlight on the sophomores right now, if we’re going to break it down to class. They’ve got to improve.“We’ve got to understand that sometimes we’re just going to have to make some changes in the game with the personnel that’s on the floor to get that understood.”Follow men's basketball reporter John Bauernfeind on Twitter @JohnBauernfeind
(01/04/14 8:07pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Making his homecoming of sorts, Michigan State sophomore guard Gary Harris posted a new career-high in points with 26, leading the Spartans to a comfortable 73-56 victory against the Hoosiers.Harris, the Fishers, Ind., native and Preseason Big Ten Player of the Year, led all players in scoring, going 8-of-18 from the field and 5-of-10 from 3-point range.The Hoosiers (10-5, 0-2), despite limiting their turnovers to 15, were out-rebounded for the first time all season. Michigan State (13-1, 2-0) held a 34-32 advantage on the glass.Harris also led all players with five steals, and added four rebounds and two assists to round out his game. Harris punctuated his day in the second half when he stole the ball from sophomore Jonny Marlin and spearheaded down the court, cocking back his right arm and sending in a dunk that extended Michigan State’s lead to 48-34 with 10 minutes 58 seconds remaining in the game.After his dunk went in, Harris let out a roar amidst the chorus of boos that fell down on him from the fans in Assembly Hall. After his team’s win, Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo described Harris as a “special player.”“I thought Harris was unbelievable,” Izzo said. “He’s a special player, and I promise he’s not even close to where he’s going to be.”In his postgame press conference, IU Coach Tom Crean was blunt in his description of Harris’s performance."Gary was an assassin today.”For IU, the last time it lost its Big Ten conference home opener was the 2010-11 season. That same season was also the last time the Hoosiers lost its first two conference games.IU and the Spartans traded points throughout the first half, and with two minutes and 56 seconds remaining, sophomore forward Jeremy Hollowell connected on a mid-range jumper to cut Michigan State’s lead to one. From then until four minutes and 42 seconds into the second half, the Spartans went on a 15-1 run before IU Coach Tom Crean called timeout.Coming out of the timeout the Hoosiers had a 7-0 run of their own, started by freshman guard Stanford Robinson, who made two layups which were followed up by a made 3-pointer from senior wing Will Sheehey.There, IU narrowed its deficit to 40-32, but it was the closest the Hoosiers would come to reaching the Spartans.After scoring a career-high 30 points against Illinois on Tuesday, sophomore guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell led the Hoosiers with 17 points on 5-of-11 shooting. After the game, Ferrell said his team was close but ultimately couldn’t pull off that one scoring run to match the Spartans.“We didn’t get enough points off their turnovers, I felt like,” Ferrell said. “We made great runs, but we never pushed over that hump.”Sheehey and Robinson matched Ferrell in double-digit points, scoring 13 and 11, respectively. For the freshman Robinson, it was a career-high in points, and he also added four rebounds and two assists.Robinson in particular drove into the paint throughout the game, which, Crean said, is what he wants to see more of from his team.“I want us to attack the rim,” Crean said. “We talk ad nauseam points through the paint. We’ve got great kids. We’ve just got to have a basketball IQ, a basketball maturity right now. That’s where the understanding is not there yet.”Michigan State similarly had three players score in double-digits, those being Harris, senior guard Keith Appling and junior forward Branden Dawson. The Spartans’ second leading scorer, senior forward Adreian Payne, was limited to four points on 2-of-6 shooting.Crean said his team is struggling with multiple things which are holding it back from winning games."We struggle right now with understanding momentum, we struggle with time and score,” Crean said. “Some of its immaturity, some of its youth, some of its just not understanding that the ball needs to go through the paint. We played hard, they played smart.”
(12/21/13 1:09am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In a game where both teams committed more turnovers than made field goals in the first half, Indiana (9-3) prevailed against Nicholls State (3-6) 79-66 Friday night in Assembly Hall.The Hoosiers shot 54.5 percent (24-for-44) from the field for the game, while limiting the Colonels to 45.9 percent shooting (28-for-61). Sophomore guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell led the Hoosiers in scoring with 16 points, going 5-for-7 shooting from the floor.Ferrell also went 3-for-5 from 3-point range and, along with senior wing Will Sheehey, who hit each of his two 3-point shot attempts, were the only two Hoosiers to make a 3-pointer.After the game, Ferrell said he thought his team did a good job of pushing the ball up-tempo and creating opportunities for themselves.“I felt like we did a good job of getting the ball out quick when they scored and just pushing the ball and finding a different outlet,” he said. “We just kind of flowed really, didn’t want to run too many sets.”In the first half, four Hoosiers led the team in scoring in the first half: Senior wing Will Sheehey, freshman forward Noah Vonleh, sophomore forward Jeremy Hollowell and Ferrell each had six points.Both teams struggled to take care of the ball in the first half. Indiana forced Nicholls State in 12 turnovers, but committed 11 turnovers themselves. Both teams had more turnovers than made field goals in the half.From the field, the Hoosiers went 9-for-20, while hitting one of just six three point attempts. The Colonels, on the other hand, shot 9-for-25 in the first half, and missed all seven of their three point attempts.IU Coach Tom Crean said going into the game, he felt his team needed to get to the foul line and into the paint.“We needed to get into the foul line tonight, we needed to get into the paint,” Crean said. “The bottom line is we wanted to bring tempo and pace to the game.”The biggest difference in the first half came from the free throw line. Indiana went 18-for-24, while Nicholls State shot just 4-for-7 from the free throw line. For the game, Indiana went 26-for-35 from the charity stripe, while Nicholls State went 6-for-10.Coming into the game, Nicholls State had the highest fouling rate in the country per game. Senior guard Dantrell Thomas had a game-high 24 points on 11-for-16 shooting from the field. Thomas, who leads the Colonels in points per game, was one of two Colonels to score in double figures.On Sunday, IU will play its final non-conference game of the season against Kennesaw State at Assembly Hall. The game is scheduled to start at 12 p.m.Ferrell said that with Big Ten play looming, he’s anticipating a good week of practice for himself and his teammates.“Well, we definitely want to go out pretty strong really this week, and then have a couple days of practice and see what we need to work on and get ready for a tough conference to play in,” Ferrell said.
(12/16/13 4:20am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>INDIANAPOLIS -- Trailing 35-22 with 6 minutes and 20 seconds to play in the first half, the IU men’s basketball team outscored Notre Dame 20-12 to go into halftime down 47-42. Senior forward Will Sheehey ignited the run, scoring seven points in that time.Sheehey scored a team-high 22 points in IU’s 79-72 loss to Notre Dame, matching his career high. Sixteen of those points came in the first half, which saw Sheehey go 7-for-10 from the field. Notre Dame senior guard Jerian Grant had a game-high 23 points.Sheehey’s previous career-high took place last February at home against Purdue. The then-junior went a perfect 9-for-9 from the floor, and IU defeated Purdue 83-55 behind Sheehey’s 22 points.After the game, IU Coach Tom Crean said the lights of Bankers Life Fieldhouse were too bright for some of his younger players. Sheehey voiced a similar sentiment to his coach.“We just gotta make sure we compete and get better daily,” Sheehey said. “It’s a process. We just gotta continue to keep chipping away. These guys just getting more comfortable playing in big stages on the road and what not will definitely help.” Sheehey’s first basket came 17 minutes and 41 seconds into the game off an assist from sophomore guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell. Sheehey caught Ferrell’s pass midair and twisted his body, turning to his right and putting in a left-handed layup.After missing his first shot of the game, Sheehey went on to make his next five. Twelve of his 16 first-half points came from field goals.Sheehey, graduate student guard Evan Gordon and freshman forward Noah Vonleh scored 30 of the team’s 42 first-half points. Combined, those three shot 12-for-17 in the first half. The rest of the team shot just 4-for-15.“We gave them too many buckets in transition, obviously,” Sheehey said. “They can really space the floor. They hit some easy looks at the beginning of the game, which makes the tough ones a little easier to hit.”Sheehey’s first-half performance was vital to a Hoosier team that was outscored 20-16 points in the paint in the first. Despite Vonleh’s perfect 3-for-3 from the field, he failed to take any free-throw attempts and was outplayed by Notre Dame’s senior center Garrick Sherman for much of the first.Sherman, who scored just 10 points in Notre Dame’s loss to North Dakota State Wednesday night, put up 13 points in the first half, hitting all five of his shots from the field.After each team shot more than 50 percent in the first half, both Indiana and Notre Dame cooled off in the second half. Sheehey went 2-for-5 in the second and missed both of his 3-point attempts.After the game, Crean said outside of Sheehey and Gordon, other Hoosiers will have to step up for the team to start winning games, especially with IU’s first Big Ten game just more than two weeks away.“They’ve got a lot of veterans that made veteran plays,” Crean said of Notre Dame. “Like I said, our veteran in Will, and even Evan, did a really good job, but other than that there’s a lot of room for improvement for us.”With IU trailing 73-69 with one minute and 21 seconds remaining in the game, Ferrell, after missing a 3-pointer of his own, stole the ball from Notre Dame senior guard Eric Atkins. He found Sheehey at the top of the key and launched a 3-pointer that would cut Notre Dame’s lead to within one. The crowd on hand, which was a majority IU conglomerate, gasped as Sheehey’s shot ricocheted in and out of the rim, fatefully ending IU’s chances of winning.Follow reporter John Bauernfeind on Twitter @JohnBauernfeind.
(12/13/13 5:23am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After two consecutive lopsided home wins, the IU men’s basketball team will face Notre Dame at 3:15 p.m. at Indianapolis’ Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Saturday. The game is the first of two being played as part of the Crossroads Classic.The Hoosiers (8-2) are facing a Notre Dame (7-3) team that is coming off of a 73-69 loss at home to North Dakota State Wednesday night. The Fighting Irish came into the season ranked No. 21, but have not been ranked since the second week of the season.The last time these two teams played was in 2011, the first year of the Classic, and the meeting was a week after IU’s upset of No. 1 Kentucky — the biggest win of the Tom Crean era. Cody Zeller had a game high of 21 points as the Hoosiers defeated the Fighting Irish 69-58.The only player on IU’s roster that played in that game is Will Sheehey, who managed only two points on one-of-seven shooting against the Irish.On the other hand, Notre Dame has four players on its roster that played against Indiana two seasons ago. Eric Atkins, Jerian Grant, Pat Connaughton and Tom Knight combined to score more than half of their team’s points in that game.Three of those four players — Atkins, Grant, and Connaughton — have started every game for the Irish this season. Grant leads the team in points and assists per contest with 18.7 and 6.1, while Connaughton leads the Irish in 3-point field goal percentage at 43.8 percent. For the Hoosiers, Saturday’s game will mark its third game played on a neutral court this year. Up to this point, the Hoosiers are 1-1 on a neutral court, defeating Washington while losing to Connecticut in the 2K Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden in New York City.Both teams go in to Saturday’s game averaging more than 81 points per game, with IU edging out Notre Dame 82.7 to 81.4 per game. The Fighting Irish also enter the game having made 80 3-pointers — 31 more than the Hoosiers have made this season.IU, however, is averaging 48.2 rebounds per game, while Notre Dame averages 36.5 boards per game.Graduate student guard Evan Gordon, who led the Hoosiers in scoring in each of its past two games, said the team has picked up its pace in its two most recent games, which has led to easy victories.“I think we’re playing a little bit faster so we’re pushing the ball ahead, we’re throwing it ahead, and it’s creating two on ones, three on twos, and we’re able to just get an edge on the scoring a little bit,” Gordon said after the Hoosiers’ 81-54 romp of Oakland Tuesday night. “We’re going to the baseline and passing it all the way out, so the bigs are doing a good job throwing it back out, and we’re throwing it back in. “It’s touching the paint, and everybody is getting pretty good looks.”Follow reporter John Bauernfeind on Twitter @JohnBauernfeind.
(12/11/13 4:26am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After his team’s Tuesday morning practice, IU Coach Curt Miller huddled his team together and told them that their Wednesday night opponent, Milwaukee, would be the best offensive team they had played. He reiterated that belief when breaking down the Hoosiers’ matchup with the Panthers.“Without question they’re the best offensive team that we’ll play up to this point,” Miller said. “They can really score, and they want to get in shootouts. They want the game up-tempo.“They take quick shots, and they add the amount of possessions.”The Hoosiers (9-0) are the last remaining undefeated Big Ten team. When they face the Panthers (2-6) tonight, the Hoosiers will be aiming for a 10-game winning streak to begin its season, something the program last accomplished at the start of the 1994-95 season.IU enters the game averaging 79 points per game while limiting its opponents to just 59.7. Milwaukee comes in averaging 69.6 points per game, while allowing an average of 80.1 points to its opponents.The Panthers’ top scorer is senior guard Angela Rodriguez, who averages 18.4 points per game. According to Miller, Rodriguez was recruited by BCS programs in high school, but decided to stay close to home and chose Milwaukee. He continued by saying Rodriguez could very well be playing in the Big Ten right now.“Rodriguez is a prolific scorer,” he said. “She’s one of the premier shooters at the mid-major level. You’ve got to start your energy with her.”The IU player most likely to spend lengths of the game guarding Rodriguez is freshman guard Larryn Brooks, who averages slightly more points per game than Rodriguez with 18.8.In the Hoosiers’ previous home game against Virginia Tech last Wednesday, Brooks played all 40 minutes of the game and used the majority of her defensive efforts on freshman guard Vanessa Panousis.Panousis went scoreless, and after the game, Miller credited Brooks with shutting down who Miller thought was an integral part of the team’s success.Brooks said she is anticipating her matchup with Rodriguez, who she says will be even harder to defend.“Yeah that’s definitely the matchup right now,” Brooks said, referring to guarding Rodriguez. “She’s very good, I would say 20 times better than who I played on Virginia Tech. Really, it’s gonna take a team defense. I didn’t shut down the Virginia Tech point guard by myself.”In every one of its six losses, Milwaukee has been outscored by double digits. In its most recent game, against Bowling Green, Milwaukee lost convincingly by a score of 87-64.Still, Miller believes his team will need to score points — lots of them — to defeat the Panthers tonight and move to 10-0.“They take quick shots,” Miller said. “They’re very aggressive early in the shot clock looking for offense. It’s going to be a shootout, and we need to score points in order to beat them.”Brooks said the team has continued to maintain its focus in lieu of the start of the Big Ten slate of games, which is just more than three weeks away.“Yeah we’re undefeated in non-conference, but we’re gonna have bigger games coming up, and we’re just trying to get ready for that,” she said. “Working harder in practice and exceeding expectations.”Follow reporter John Bauernfeind on Twitter @JohnBauernfeind.
(12/09/13 3:12am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After defeating Morehead State 77-54 Sunday, the IU women’s basketball team (9-0) is 3-for-3 in road games this season. The Hoosiers won a total of two road games last year.To open the game, Indiana went on a 21-2 run. During that stretch of points, senior forward Tabitha Gerardot, freshman guard Taylor Agler and freshman guard Alexis Gassion made three consecutive 3-pointers to extend IU’s lead to 18-2. Morehead State was held scoreless for the game’s first 7 minutes and 4 seconds.From there, the Eagles slightly narrowed the lead to 12 points before the Hoosiers went on another scoring run, this time outscoring the Eagles 18-3 in 7 minutes and 53 seconds. At the half, IU led Morehead State 44-18.On the defensive side of the ball, Indiana limited Morehead State to 18.5 percent shooting from the field and forced the Eagles into nine turnovers in the first half.IU Coach Curt Miller said he thought his team started the game focused, which was how it built a 26 point halftime lead.“Focused first-half performance by our players,” Miller said. “Really good defensively, took away the arc, which we thought was the key. We made threes, we moved the basketball around. I thought we had good balance.”In the second half, Morehead State outscored the Hoosiers 36-33, but Indiana’s dominance in the first half left it with a comfortable victory.Still, Miller said he thought his team lost some of its competitiveness in the second half.“Morehead competed, shot the ball tremendously well against us in the second half,” he said. “I thought we lost our edge and lost our focus a little bit against changing defenses.”For the game, the Hoosiers had 12 players score. Agler and Gerardot tied for the team lead in points with 12, while points-per-game leader freshman guard Larryn Brooks scored 10.Senior center Sasha Chaplin, sophomore guard/forward Kaila Hulls and Gassion each contributed eight points of their own.Gassion also finished with a steal, three rebounds, three blocks and a team-high three assists.For the game, the Hoosiers shot 22-for-56 from the floor, holding the Eagles to 17-for-57 shooting.The Hoosiers’ victory Sunday marks the first time since the 2008-09 season that the team has won nine consecutive games, and the first time since the 2010-11 season that the team has won at least three road games.Miller said Sunday’s game was another step in the right direction for his team as it inches closer to the beginning of Big Ten play.“As I told them, it’s not always about our record and it’s not always about our opponent, but it’s about ourselves,” Miller said. “We did some things tonight to be proud of that were part of the game plan, and then some things got away from us in the second half.“We’ve got to be a mature team and stay focused and keep our edge for the full 40 minutes because that’s what we’re going to need in Big Ten play.”Follow women's basketball reporter John Bauernfeind on Twitter @JohnBauernfeind.
(12/05/13 5:08am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After seeing a 19-point lead wither down to four with just more than four minutes remaining, freshman guard Larryn Brooks connected on one of her four made 3-pointers on the night, stretching the Hoosiers’ lead to 61-54.The Hoosiers (8-0) defeated the Virginia Tech Hokies 71-65, largely in part by Brooks’ efforts. She had a game-high 37 points, breaking the IU freshman record for points in a single game.The previous record was held by Denise Johnson, who scored 32 points as a freshman on Feb. 13, 1981.Brooks shot 11-for-23 from the floor and 4-for-10 from beyond the arc. She also made it to the free throw line 11 times, hitting every one.IU Coach Curt Miller was frank in his assessment on how Brooks effected the game.“Larryn Brooks put us on her back tonight,” Miller said. “Offensively, and the great news about it was they had a gameplan for her, and we countered and made some adjustments and put the ball in Larryn’s hands to go make plays, and she did that for us tonight.”Miller has talked about four-minute battles within the actual game. In the final four minutes and 10 seconds of the first half, Brooks led a charge to put the Hoosiers up at halftime.With the Hoosiers down 25-21 and struggling to make shots, Brooks started what would turn out to be a 14-0 scoring run by the Hoosiers to end the half. Brooks made a 3-pointer to cut the lead to one, which was followed by two free throws from senior forward Milika Taufa.Brooks then made two free throws to move the Hoosiers up by three. A layup by senior center Simone Deloach extended the lead to five. After that, Brooks finished the run with five more points to leave the Hoosiers up 10 at halftime.As the second half progressed, the Hokies found themselves back in the game, in part due to senior forward Uju Ugoka’s 32 points. After sophomore forward Hannah Young’s 3-pointer cut the Hoosier lead to four, Brooks responded with a basket of her own, pushing the lead back up to six with just less than two minutes remaining.In the final 36.3 seconds, Brooks hit all six of her free throws, giving the Hoosiers a victory in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.Miller said Brooks’ offensive output would likely overshadow her presence on the defensive side of the ball.“But what’s even better about Larryn Brooks’s night is we believe the key to Virginia Tech is their freshman Australian point guard (Vanessa Panousis),” Miller said. “And Larryn shut her out, and played 40 minutes tonight. So you can write all you want about her offense, but what she did to win the game was at the defensive end.”Brooks said despite the record that she broke, she was most excited for her teammates and their win.“It’s definitely something that I’m going to cherish,” she said. “But it was my team and more of the win tonight that I’m worried about.”Follow reporter John Bauernfeind on Twitter @JohnBauernfeind.
(12/02/13 3:09am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Indiana women’s basketball team scored the game’s first 21 points on Sunday against the USC Upstate Spartans. It took the Spartans until the 11:53 mark in the first half to record their first bucket.In addition to the scoring run to open the game, Indiana closed the half on an 18-0 run during the final five minutes and two seconds.The Hoosiers (7-0) never relented in their attack and won the contest by a score of 87-38. Freshman guard Taylor Agler said this gives her team a boost of confidence heading into their Big Ten/ACC matchup against Virginia Tech on Wednesday.“We shot really well, and this gives us confidence going into our next game,” Agler said.Agler was one of five Hoosiers to finish the game with double digit points. Senior forward Sasha Chaplin had 10, freshman guard Larryn Brooks had 14, freshman guard Alexis Gassion had 10 and sophomore guard Kaila Hulls had 12.At halftime, Indiana led USC Upstate 51-13. IU Coach Curt Miller said he didn’t have much for his team to work on during the halftime intermission.“I told the team I didn’t have a lot of negatives going into the locker room,” Miller said. “It had to be a fun half to watch for fans. It certainly was a fun half to coach.”For the first half, the Hoosiers shot 18 of 33 (55.4 percent) from the floor, while limiting the Spartans to just 6 of 29 (20.7 percent) shooting. For the game, the Hoosiers shot 31 of 66 (47 percent) from the field.Miller said that within the actual game are intervals he calls “four-minute battles.” In the first half, the Hoosiers won all five of the four-minute battles, Miller said.“The whole topic is focus, and then you’ve got to break it down,” Miller said. “You talk about four-minute battles, and we won all five four-minute battles in the first half.”Senior forward Tabitha Gerardot led the Hoosiers with 10 rebounds, while Brooks’ four assists placed her at the top of that category.The Hoosiers finished the game with 53 rebounds, 15 assists, nine blocks and two steals while turning the ball over 13 times.Indiana spread its minutes out throughout its roster. No player tallied more than 30 minutes of playing time, and 10 players saw more than 10 minutes of action.The win moves the Hoosiers to 7-0 on the season for the first time since the 2000-01 season. Next up on Indiana’s schedule is Virginia Tech this Wednesday at home.Miller said the Hoosiers, which are the only team still unbeaten amongst Big Ten foes, are looking forward to their Big Ten/ACC matchup.“I think they’re confident,” Miller said. “We’re the lone unbeaten team in the Big Ten. We played the schedule that we have, and I’m not going to apologize for that. They’ve stepped up to every challenge.”Follow women's basketball reporter John Bauernfeind on Twitter @JohnBauernfeind.
(11/22/13 5:06am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>On Saturday, the women’s basketball team will stake its undefeated record against Butler, a team that defeated them last year.The Hoosiers (4-0) face the Bulldogs (1-3), which has lost three games in a row. IU Coach Curt Miller said despite their record, the Bulldogs are a team not to be overlooked.“First of all, their record is very deceiving,” Miller said. “They’re a very, very good team that’s played a really tough mid-major schedule. They come in here as the clear cut favorite.”After winning its opening game, Butler has lost by five, four and four to Eastern Michigan, St. Mary’s (CA) and Bowling Green, respectively.Subsequently, IU has begun the season 4-0 for the first time since the 2006-07 season. The Hoosiers are averaging 76.8 points per game and shooting almost 47 percent from the field.Miller said Butler’s array of scoring options will make it tough for the Hoosier defense to contain.“It’s hard to concentrate just on one person because they have so many weapons,” he said. “They do play up-tempo, and they can really score the basketball.”For Butler, junior center Liz Stratman leads the team in points, averaging 15 points per contest. Leading the team in rebounds is senior Daress McClung with 7.2 per game. McClung also averages 14.2 points per game.Last season, the Hoosiers fell to the Bulldogs on the road 59-56. Senior forward Tabitha Gerardot said Butler will be a challenge for IU.“They’re going to be a tough team,” she said. “It’s an in-state rival, so they’re going to want to play hard, and we’re going to have to compete with that.”For the Hoosiers, freshman guard Larryn Brooks leads the team in points per game with 18.8. Gerardot is third on the team with 11 points per game, while leading the Hoosiers in rebounds with 6.4.Gerardot said she hopes her team can push the ball and play at a fast pace against Butler.“I like it when we play up-tempo,” she said. “We know it’s going to be a tough one. Both sides are going to fight.”Butler played and lost to Bowling Green in its most recent game. Miller, who coached at Bowling Green for 11 seasons, said Butler has already had a trial run of what its going to see from the Hoosiers.“Butler gets a trial run on a lot of the same things that we’re going to do,” Miller said. “They still run our same offenses that we did there. Butler has the advantage and the trial run of guarding a lot of that, but we get the advantage of, on film, how did Butler effectively guard it, and where were they.“And so we can make some adjustments on how they guarded it. So we both win in that situation.”Miller said both teams are at an advantage, with Butler playing against a similar style to IU and the Hoosiers getting to watch how the Bulldogs played against their style.“Butler’s had a 40-minute game against the same system they’re going to play back to back,” Miller said. “But we get the whole 40-minute game on tape to dissect what they did to try and guard them.”Follow women's basketball reporter John Bauernfeind on Twitter @JohnBauernfeind.
(11/18/13 4:37am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>With the Hoosiers’ win against Indiana State Friday, the women’s basketball team has now matched the number of road wins it had last season with two.Indiana (3-0) defeated Indiana State (2-1) 57-54 in Terre Haute. IU Coach Curt Miller said he was proud of his team, which matched its best start to a season since 2009-2010.“It’s a really exciting road win for us, I’m very proud of our team tonight,” Miller said. “We were gutty and found a way to win a different way than we won our first two games.”In its first two games of the season, the Hoosiers averaged 82.5 points per game while attempting 60.5 shots per game. On Friday, Indiana managed to attempt 45 shots.Playing against a defensive-minded team, Miller said his team’s victory proved it could play and win in different styles.“We won our first couple games with offense,” he said. “Tonight we proved we could win in a defensive struggle.”Freshman guard Larryn Brooks led the Hoosiers in scoring with sixteen points. It was her third straight game to finish with double-digit points.Talking about Brooks, Miller said though she faced more opposition than in her first two games, Brooks still managed to have an effect.“They have better quickness than the first two teams that we played, so she wasn’t getting to the rim as easy as she could,” Miller said. “But to her credit, she found a way to get to the foul line.”Senior forward Tabitha Gerardot added eleven points while co-leading the team in rebounds with eight. Freshman guard Alexis Gassion, making her first career start, pulled in eight rebounds as well.The game was played close throughout and, with 38 seconds remaining, was a one-point game. Freshman guard Taylor Agler, who played the entirety of the game, was fouled, sending her to the free throw line. Agler would convert both free throw attempts to give the Hoosiers a three-point lead they would not relinquish.For the game, Indiana shot 42.2 percent from the field as a team, while holding Indiana State to just 28.8 percent shooting. The Hoosiers, however, were forced into 22 turnovers.“We didn’t handle the pressure for forty minutes,” Miller said. “We handled it in stretches and shot a good percentage. We just didn’t get enough possessions because of those turnovers.”The Hoosiers will play at 7 p.m. tonight at Assembly Hall against Central Arkansas. It will be the first of five straight home games for the Hoosiers.After Friday’s game, Miller emphasized the enormity of the Hoosiers’ victory.“Their defense is just outstanding, and they’re the preseason conference favorites,” Miller said of Indiana State. “We were the underdogs tonight. Make no mistake about the name of school. We were the underdogs tonight, and that’s a huge road win for us.”Follow women's basketball reporter John Bauernfeind on Twitter @JohnBauernfeind.
(11/15/13 1:34am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Freshman guard Taylor Agler speaks with her father after each of her practices and games.Agler said she can sometimes hear him directing her in her head.“I hear his voice a lot in practice,” Agler said. “Before even Coach Miller can yell at me I already know what I did because I’m so used to my dad being right there.”Brian Agler is the coach and general manager of the Seattle Storm, one of five other teams in the Women’s National Basketball Association’s western conference.Brian joined the Storm in 2008. Before that he was coach and general manager of the Minnesota Lynx from 1999-02.“He’s a perfectionist,” Taylor said. “He’s not going to let you get away with the little mistakes. He’s going to expect 100 percent out of you.”The Agler family is from Westerville, Ohio, where Taylor attended Olentangy Orange High School.Taylor graduated as the school’s all-time leading scorer (1,265 points) and assist leader (657 assists) last year.Taylor said her father has always been there to help coach her.“I think we’ve had some spurts in high school where we’d get in arguments because I wanted him to just be a dad,” she said. “At the end of the day, I’d always realize that he’s just trying to help me.“He’s trying to use what he knows to make me a better player because he thinks that’s what I want, and I do want that. I just have to accept it.”Brian played collegiate basketball at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. In his time there, he started every game and graduated as the school’s all-time assist leader with 481.He began his coaching career in the mid-1980s, spending 15 years in the college ranks and 13 of those as a coach.In 1996, he took a job as coach of the Columbus Quest, winning back-to-back American Basketball League championships in 1997 and 1998.In 2010 Brian was named WNBA Coach of the Year. That year the Storm would go on to defeat the Atlanta Dream in the finals.Throughout his coaching career Taylor said her experiences alongside her father’s teams have been beneficial for her.“I think I’m really lucky because I get to be around professional athletes, and I get to learn how they got there, and I get to watch them and their work ethic,” she said. “I think it’s really helped me in the long run because I know what it takes.”Taylor said when she was younger she would spend half her summer in Seattle during the WNBA season.Now that she’s in college, her parents have bought a condo in Bloomington. Taylor said her father plans on making it to all her games.Taylor said one of the things that drew her to Indiana was Miller, who she said shares a similar coaching style to her father.“I think they’re extremely, extremely similar,” she said. “It’s almost freaky in practice because they say the same things. I think that’s part of the reason I wanted to play for him so bad, because he’s a lot like my dad.”Taylor said her dad and Miller joke that Brian isn’t the one who has to coach her anymore.“He trusts Coach Miller, and Coach Miller and him make jokes about how my dad doesn’t have to yell at me much anymore because he takes care of it,” Taylor said. “But they bounce off of each other, and I get to hear it twice as much.”In the team’s season opener, which saw Indiana defeat Oakland 85-55, Taylor played the most minutes, totaling three points, three assists and four steals in 36 minutes of action.Miller said Agler plays an integral part in his team’s rotation.“Taylor Agler’s numbers might not indicate it, but she’s such a big glue kid for us,” Miller said. “She does everything. She gets deflections, she defends, she moves the basketball. She continues to do well.”Taylor said through it all, her father has been her biggest supporter and has helped her achieve her goals.“I think it’s been my goal my whole life, not even to go Division I but to make an impact on a team,” she said. “I hope I can do that for this team.”Follow reporter John Bauernfeind on Twitter @JohnBauernfeind.
(11/12/13 5:37am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After his team’s season-opening victory against Oakland on Saturday night, IU Coach Curt Miller said he was excited to see the Hoosiers get out offensively and push the ball.Last season, the IU women’s basketball team averaged 55.2 points per game.On Saturday, the team scored 85. “What a fun difference for me,” Miller said in a postgame press conference. “After spending the whole year trying to slow the ball down and shorten games, to allow this team to get out and run, I think it’s the best first half scoring we’ve had under my tenure.”Indeed, it was the most first half points the Hoosiers (1-0) had scored under Miller, who travel to Fort Wayne on Tuesday to play IPFW (0-1). Last season, Indiana defeated IPFW at home 64-47.The Mastodons finished the 2012-13 season with a 13-17 record, going 8-8 in conference play.In its regular season opener, IPFW lost to Wichita State, 46-69.Senior Amanda Hyde led the Mastadons with 13 points, while junior Haley Seibert and freshman Rachel Rinehart contributed 10 points each.Senior Stefanie Mauk added eight rebounds to lead the team in that category.Despite the Hoosiers’ lopsided victory Saturday, the team relented 26 free throws to Oakland while shooting just 14 themselves.Miller said his team will have to learn how to defend without fouling so often.“We’re going to have to defend better, as we all are seeing the game’s going to be called differently,” he said. “We’ve got to keep opponents off the foul line better than we did tonight.”In their debuts for IU, senior forward Tabitha Gerardot and freshman guard Larryn Brooks scored 14 and 19 points, respectively.Nine players saw at least 10 minutes of playing time in Saturday’s victory, and Gerardot said players contributed in any way possible.“Everyone just pitches in and plays their role, that’s the beauty of it,” Gerardot said after the game. “I was just responding emotionally to what everyone was doing.”Brooks, who added seven rebounds and four assists, said right now she’s trying to succeed in her role with the team.“Main goals right now is just playing my role and just doing what I can for the team,” she said. “It’s all about the team.”Miller said his team’s depth was evident in how many players saw action Saturday.“Our depth showed,” he said. “There’s very little difference between one and 12. Our lineup can continue to change and get contributions from different people.”The Hoosiers went 2-10 away from Assembly Hall last season. Miller said with a young team like his there will be a combination of highs and lows to expect.“It’s an exciting young team, and tonight was a high,” Miller said. “There’s going to be peaks and valleys this year.”More pressing, Miller said, is that the Hoosiers begin to discover how to earn victories away from home.“It’s important that this program starts to learn how to win on the road,” Miller said.Follow reporter John Bauernfeind on Twitter @JohnBauernfeind.
(11/08/13 5:45am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The 2013-2014 IU women’s basketball team will begin its season at 8 p.m. Saturday against Oakland at Assembly Hall.The Hoosiers, who finished last season 11-19, are trying to quell anticipation before their opening game.“It’s hard to keep the emotions down,” freshman guard Larryn Brooks said. “It’s our first game. We can’t be too nervous.”The team returns two starters, sophomore guard Nicole Bell and senior forward Sasha Chaplin, from last year’. Chaplin said that, this being the second year under the tutelage of IU Coach Curt Miller, the team is ready to take the next step.The Oakland Golden Grizzlies were picked to finish eighth in the Preseason Horizon League Women’s Basketball Poll, which was voted on by the league’s coaches. Last season, they finished with a record of 9-20.Oakland hired a new coach, Jeff Tungate, over the summer. Previously, Tungate spent six seasons as the associate head coach of Oakland’s men’s basketball team.“First and foremost, there’s always a lot of energy and emotion with a new head coach,” Miller said. “We’ve got to expect Oakland’s going to come out ready to go, fired up. We’ve got to match that passion from the beginning.”Miller said his team will have to prepare for Oakland’s dribble drive offense, which he said Tungate has brought over from his time coaching the men’s team.“They’re going to spread you out and try to dribble drive,” Miller said.Oakland returns its top two scorers from last season, sophomores Olivia Nash and Elena Popkey. In her freshman year, Nash averaged 11.9 points and 8 rebounds per game, leading the team in both categories. Popkey averaged 11.4 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. Miller said Oakland is an experienced team.“He’s inherited not a deep team, but a veteran team in terms of playing time,” he said. “He’s got a lot of shooters and a lot of weapons to bring at us.”Chaplin said in the last few days of practice before the season begins, the team has been working on a multitude of things.“Keeping tempo up,” she said. “Running, getting that under our belt. Inside looks, crashing the boards aggressively.”Miller shared a similar sentiment to Chaplin’s.“We continue to work on ourselves, and add things to the playbook and ways to attack any opponent,” Miller said.At Big Ten Media Day, Miller stressed the Hoosiers’ goals for the upcoming season were to exceed expectations. Chaplin, who was granted a sixth year of eligibility for this season, said she and her teammates are ready for the season to get underway.“Work hard, win games and enjoy the season,” she said.Follow reporter John Bauernfeind on Twitter @JohnBauernfeind.
(11/01/13 4:25am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>ROSEMONT, Ill. — Before the opening tip of his team’s exhibition game last Tuesday, IU Coach Curt Miller and the women’s basketball team were slapped with an administrative technical foul.Miller said the game program, which listed each player on the roster, was printed without one of the team’s starters, senior forward Tabitha Gerardot.Consequently, the Hoosiers were given a technical foul and the opponent, Georgetown College, shot two free throws before the game had started.“We chuckle about it now,” Miller said. “It’s a product of how truly young we are.”Eight of the 13 players on the 2013-2014 women’s basketball roster are in their first year with the team. In Tuesday’s exhibition game, which IU won 79-55, 62 of those points came from IU’s newcomers.Speaking to reporters at Big Ten Media Day, Miller said IU is one of two teams in the Big Ten that lost more than half of its scoring from last season.“It puts light into just how many newcomers we have,” Miller said. “Sometimes it’s not bad to be naïve and have a bunch of young kids.”The eight newcomers include freshmen Taylor Agler, Jennifer Anderson, Larryn Brooks, Alexis Gassion, Lyndsay Leikem, Karlee McBride, Lizzy Pedigo and Gerardot.Of them, Agler, Brooks, Gerardot and sophomore Kaila Hulls started for the Hoosiers against Georgetown College. Senior Sasha Chaplin, the lone starter in the exhibition to have played for the Hoosiers prior to this season, said she has seen firsthand the progress the team has made.“With all the newcomers, you want to see how they step up this year,” Chaplin said. “Especially seeing them in the summertime til now, you see the improvement.”Chaplin, one of the team’s captains, said she’s taken it upon herself to help the team in any way possible.“Knowing that I can project myself and my voice, I think it’s an important aspect of being a captain,” she said. “I’m trying to help the team as much as possible, in any way that I can.”Miller said the team’s motto doesn’t include wins or losses, but rather to exceed expectations placed upon them.“We continue to want to build our culture not only on the court but behind the scenes,” he said, “and have one of the hardest working programs in the Big Ten.”Someone Miller can lean on to be a leader on the team and a mentor to younger players is Chaplin, who Miller described as the “oldest women’s basketball player in the conference.”“When she looks at the freshman class and realizes that she is six years older than them, she can help share the journey,” Miller said.Chaplin said although she’s had to get used to her new teammates, she’s excited for the season and its potential.“The transition has been different, but at the same time, everyone has the same goal and mindset to get better and exceed expectations,” Chaplin said.Follow women’s basketball reporter John Bauernfeind on Twitter at @JohnBauernfeind.
(09/04/13 4:11am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In his first year as head coach, IU Coach Curt Miller and the IU women’s basketball team went 11-19, up from 6-24 in 2011-2012.Still, the Hoosiers managed only two conference wins in the Big Ten last season. This, though, is the first of a two-part series to preview the Hoosiers’ 2013-2014 schedule.Part one will analyze Indiana’s non-conference schedule, where the Hoosiers went 9-5 last year.Indiana has 14 non-conference games, the same number as the previous season. Of the 14, eight of them are home games. The Hoosiers were 9-8 at home last season.IU starts the season off against Georgetown (Ky.) at home on Oct. 29. Georgetown (Ky.) boasted a 23-10 record last year, the best of any other non-conference team IU is set to play this year. IU’s first road game is against IPFW, who the Hoosiers defeated at home last season 64-47. IPFW went 13-17 in the Summit League last season. In addition to IPFW, the Hoosiers play games against three other in-state teams: Indiana State, Butler and IUPUI. IU went 3-1 in in-state play last season, losing only to Butler by 3.In the annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge, Indiana faces off against Virginia Tech at home. The Hokies were 10-20 last season, finishing last in the ACC. The Hoosiers played Virginia in last year’s ACC/Big Ten challenge, losing to the Cavaliers 65-49.Indiana rounds out its non-conference schedule with four of its last five games on the road, starting at Morehead State and finishing at Xavier before they begin Big Ten play.Of its 14 non-conference opponents this season, only five teams had winning records in 2012-2013. Last year the Big Ten alone had nine of its 14 teams above .500.Follow reporter John Bauernfeind on Twitter @JBauernfeindIDS.
(08/21/13 3:41am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>On Monday, Aulani Sinclair signed a contract with Pinkk Pesci424, a professional women’s basketball team in Hungary.“It’s always been a dream of mine to continue playing basketball at a professional level and now is a dream come true,” Sinclair said.A starter on this past season’s Hoosiers women’s basketball team, Sinclair played overseas this summer.“It was right after graduation, I played for the USA College All-Stars this summer in China,” she said. “We played against China, Hungary, Australia and a four nations challenge.”Sinclair said following her trip to China, her agent began researching countries and teams.“My agent researched teams and pretty much found the best fit for me, and that was Hungary,” she said.Sinclair had been in talks with Hungary and the coach there for a little over a week before she was offered a contract via Skype.“After that we just kind of did all of the negotiations, and then I signed and now I’m officially here,” she saidSinclair said the process has been swift, and she is traveling to Hungary this weekend.“I was very excited, but then they told me I’d have to leave this Sunday,” she said. “Then the excitement switched over to ‘Oh my gosh, I have so much stuff to do this week.’”Sinclair said though she didn’t know where she would wind up following her collegiate career, her basketball expereinces in China will help her in Hungary.“Just going up against all other European teams, they just have a different style of play,” she said. “I feel like going on the China trip, not only did it help me learn the European style, but then also getting out of the U.S. for the first time and just experiencing another country by myself kind of gave me a test run of what I was going to experience.”Sinclair said she is looking forward to playing a brand of basketball that she finds similar to her own style. And after talking with her coach, she fully expects to play the three-spot, or small forward, as she did at Indiana.“He said he would play me in the three-spot, just like I did at school,” Sinclair said. “It’s a very strong league. We play in the Euro Cup and in the Hungarian league. So I’ll be playing against a lot of great competition, and I’m just excited because I feel like there’s my style of play there.”Among other things she encountered while in China, she will also have to overcome a language barrier while in Hungary, something that she’s not too overwhelmed about.“I’m hoping it won’t be that big of a deal,” Sinclair said. “Most of the players understand and speak a little English.”Sinclair said some of her soon-to-be teammates played at schools here in the States and understand English very well, and she hopes that outside of practice she has someone to assist her in daily tasks.“My coach said the only difficulty I might have is if I go to a grocery store by myself,” Sinclair said. “There will always be someone to help me out, too.”Sinclair, who is an Indiana native, said she is anxious to begin her professional career and to see the world.“Indiana will always be my home,” she said. “Just to have this experience to travel the world. Like I said, going to China really opened my eyes to how cool it is to travel the world and see other parts. I’ve seen a lot of cornfields over the last couple of years of my life. So I’m excited to go out and travel while I’m still young and just experience everything while I can and just to do that and be able to play basketball on top of it is a blessing.”Sinclair said she’ll miss her family and friends while overseas but is excited to continue with her basketball career.“Basketball doesn’t feel like a job for me, it’s something I really enjoy,” she said. “I’m just going to go out there and continue playing the way I have been while representing Indiana and Hoosier nation and my family as well.”
(07/10/13 11:02pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>One of Lucas Sawyer’s goals during his time at IU South Bend was to graduate with no student debt. Similar to his recent promotion to vice president and chief deposit officer at Worthington National Bank, he achieved his goal.“As I was wrapping up at IU, my goal was to get out of school without any student debt,” Sawyer said. “And I did just that. It’s a big accomplishment for me, personally.”After he graduated, Sawyer, 30, said he sent out hundreds of applications to different companies before narrowing down his choices to a job in Minnesota and one in Fort Worth, Texas. The business management and administration major chose to go south.“It’s been great,” he said.Sawyer was recently bumped up to vice president and chief deposit officer at Worthington National Bank, located in Fort Worth, Texas. Sawyer’s boss and the CEO of Worthington, Greg Morse, admires Sawyer’s attitude and work ethic.“He’s a go-getter,” Morse said. “Some people shake the trees and some people rake the leaves. He’s definitely a tree-shaker.”Sawyer grew up in Elkhart, Ind., which made picking IU South Bend both economical and easy.“Basically, my whole family lives in the South Bend area,” Sawyer said. “South Bend is what I’ve seen for a while. I grew up with that entrepreneurial spirit.”When talking about his career path and how his time spent at IU South Bend prepared him, he discussed his alma mater endearingly.“One of the things that comes to mind was the quality of the professors,” Sawyer said. “They were not just smart, but street smart as well.”Aside from working as vice president and chief deposit officer at the bank, Sawyer also serves as chairman on the board of directors for the Fort Worth Business Assistance Center.“It’s a really exciting, rewarding part of my life,” he said.Morse said though Sawyer works in Texas, he remains a big Indiana fan.“He’s proud of his education,” Morse said. “It was definitely a stepping stone for how he’s gotten to where he is now.”Sawyer said he does go back and visit IU South Bend. “It’s down the street from the family business,” Sawyer said. “I’ll stop by and walk around, you bet.”Sawyer said he knows he has the entrepreneurial spirit, and his boss also believes this.“I see him running a bank,” Morse said. “I think his personal drive and his care towards customers has him lined up for success.”Sawyer sees the same thing for himself. The person who worked hard throughout college is seeing his career take off.“I mention the entrepreneur spirit,” Sawyer said. “It’s in my blood. Maybe I’ll start my own bank. Not tomorrow, but eventually.”
(06/26/13 11:31pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Paige Rawl is making a name for herself. The 18-year-old HIV/AIDS advocate was recently announced a finalist for Seventeen magazine’s “Pretty Amazing” contest.“I definitely feel really honored,” Rawl said. “I was so shocked when I heard that I had been nominated.”The winner of the contest will be revealed on the cover of the magazine in September. Additionally, the winner will receive a $20,000 scholarship from Neutrogena.Rawl said she learned of her nomination over a Skype chat with the editor-in-chief of the magazine.“It feels good knowing that my story will be out there,” she said.Rawl is involved with the philanthropy event IU Dance Marathon here in Bloomington. Rawl is a Riley kid and has been treated there.“I’ve been a patient since I was three years old,” she said. “They told me about IUDM, and I’ve been sharing my story with them there.”Rawl’s story dates back to 2008, when she first began speaking on behalf of HIV/AIDS. When Rawl was two years old, her mother tested positive for HIV. Though she appeared to be healthy, Rawl’s mother had her tested as well, and she too tested positive.Her father passed away in 2001 of an AIDS-related illness. To this day, neither she nor her mother knows how her father contracted the disease.In middle school, Rawl was bullied by her peers because of her illness. Eventually, Rawl had to leave the school and was home-schooled her eighth grade year.She enrolled in public high school and during her freshman year she was named Freshman Class President. Rawl graduated from Herron High School in downtown Indianapolis this year.“HIV doesn’t define who she is,” said her mother, Sandy Rawl, 53. “She has so much courage and strength for her age.”While in middle school, Rawl began getting in contact with the HIV community, and began speaking on behalf of HIV/AIDS advocacy in 2008.Rawl will be attending Ball State in the fall. She plans on majoring in molecular biology, and wants to work as an HIV medicine researcher.“I definitely know that I’m going to be out there still sharing my story,” Rawl said about whether she planned on continuing to speak while in college.The results for the “Pretty Amazing” contest will be announced around Aug. 1. “I’m really proud of her and excited for her,” her mother said. “She’s come so far and inspired so many others.”