Walking in her father's footsteps
Coach Kathi Bennett remembers a Christmas when her father, coach Dick Bennett, came home from a horrifying game.
Coach Kathi Bennett remembers a Christmas when her father, coach Dick Bennett, came home from a horrifying game.
Where to begin? A Big Ten Championship, a berth in the NCAA Tournament, a frightening accident, and a array of emotions ranging from happy tears to sad discussions. All of the following described the 2001-2002 IU women's basketball season.
Coach Kristy Curry of the Purdue Boilermakers said IU finished last season on a momentum swing after winning the Big Ten Tournament.
Like two important pieces to a jigsaw puzzle, center Jill Chapman and guard Heather Cassady completed the team picture for IU. Their prominent roles on the team were fundamental to its success last year and for years to come. They combined to score 43 percent of IU's points last season.
Playing a sport at a Big Ten school is something some high school kids only dream about. For freshman Brigett Branson, a 6'2" forward from Bloomingdale, Ind., that dream came true.
Four years ago, senior guard Tom Coverdale arrived at IU to play basketball, and promptly found himself on the bench. For the 1998 Mr. Basketball of Indiana and a player who averaged 25 points per game in high school, warming the bench was not good enough.
When Mike Davis began his head coaching career at IU, he was smacked with the "interim" label. Critics did not expect him to last past the 2000-2001 season as rumors circulated about who would take the helm full-time once the year was up.
The bad news is that the IU basketball team has zero agreements with any recruits. The good news is that two of the top high school players were in Bloomington during Homecoming weekend, and received a boisterous welcome from IU fans.
Look who's No. 2 in the new Bowl Championship Series standings. Ohio State, helped by a big quality win over Washington State earlier this year and Miami's drop in The Associated Press poll, has overtaken the Hurricanes in the standings released Monday.
WEST LAFAYETTE -- Led by freshman twins John and Sean Jefferson, the 18th ranked men's cross country team ran to a fourth place finish at the Big Ten conference meet in Purdue Sunday. The Jeffersons have been the stars of the season, running most meets side by side as the number one and two runners all year long. John finished fourth with a time of 24 minutes, 7 seconds on the eight kilometer course and Sean finished five seconds later in sixth place.
IU-Purdue University at Indianapolis almost ruined Senior Day for No. 5 IU Sunday. But a storybook ending lifted the Hoosiers over the in-state rival in double overtime, 2-1.
IU came into Saturday's game looking to rebound after a pair of losses dealt by Illinois last weekend. But instead, the Hoosiers ended a 27-game home unbeaten streak dating back to January 2001. It looked like the Hoosiers were back on track early in the first period. Less than four minutes into the period, senior defenseman Joe Rogers took the face-off pass from junior forward Frank Harrison and sent a shot over the glove of Michigan State goalie Sean Huberty. But instead of carrying that momentum, the Hoosiers were weighed down by a tough Michigan State team that forced IU to play its physical brand of hockey. "We had talked about playing the body and how it was critical to our success," coach Rich Holdeman said. "And we did pretty well early on, we got a goal early, but it seemed like after we scored, we thought it was going to be a cakewalk or something."
IU headed into the weekend with two tough games on tap. After getting blown out by Wisconsin on Friday night, IU came back to defeat Northwestern 3-1 on Saturday to earn a split on the road this weekend. IU faced a Badger team focused on getting revenge after their 3-2 loss in Bloomington three weeks ago. And that they did, as Wisconsin blanked IU 3-0. The No. 15 ranked Badgers pushed their lead to two games over IU in the Big Ten standings with the win. In the opening match, IU and Wisconsin were knotted at 16 before the Badgers made a strong run to win game one 30-21.
The IU field hockey team found some remorse Saturday with a 1-0 win against Colgate after losing a hard-fought battle to Northwestern on Friday. They lost that game 1-0. Both games were played in Evanston, Ill., but the loss to the Wildcats proved the most crucial, as it delegated the Hoosiers (6-12, 1-5) to the last seed in next weekend's Big Ten Tournament. Northwestern (5-12, 1-5) recorded its first Big Ten victory of the season and broke an eight-game losing skid. Coach Amy Robertson's team showcased the effort, but wasn't able to finish against the Wildcats.
The IU men's swimming and diving team improved to 3-0 after defeating the Iowa Hawkeyes 162-138 Friday at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center. The Hoosiers battled their way in the pool in almost every race, winning 10 of the 13 events. But first year IU coach Ray Looze said it was the team's heart that helped them win the meet. Top sprinter Claes Andersson was injured, forcing Looze to move some swimmers around to events they don't ordinarily swim to help earn more points. Looze added it was the determination of the bottom guys that forged the victory.
EVANSTON, Ill.-- Early on during Saturday's football game, the Hoosiers' game plan on offense was quite clear. IU took to the ground early and often but still came up short at Northwestern 41-37. IU running backs carried the ball 14 straight times to start the game before senior quarterback Gibran Hamdan even attempted a pass. Coach Gerry DiNardo said running the ball was the plan going into the game. "We thought that was the way to win the game, beat the clock, keep the defense off the field," DiNardo said.
EVANSTON, Ill. -- In a game rife with errors and less-than-perfect execution by both teams, it came down to the team that made the last mistake ending up as the loser. In this case, it was IU, which all but kissed its post-season aspirations goodbye with a 41-37 loss to Northwestern in front of a sparse crowd of 25,077. The game saw one dubious streak come to an end and another continue. The Wildcats (3-7, 1-5) broke an 11-game Big Ten losing skid, winning for the first time since they beat Michigan State last September.
IU-Purdue University at Indianapolis took the IU men's soccer team to limit on a cold and drizzly afternoon yesterday as it took the No. 5 Hoosiers double overtime to down the Jaguars 2-1. With the win, IU (14-2-2) concluded its regular season play undefeated at home going 5-0-2 record at Bill Armstrong Stadium. The Hoosiers dominated much of the play as they had 15 shots on goal to the Jaguars' three. IU also had season highs with 33 shots and 17 corner kicks in the match. IUPUI freshman goalkeeper Drew Deffner made 13 saves on the day, an opponent high against the Hoosiers this season.
The competition was fierce and the score close as the No. 13 ranked Hoosiers competed against the No. 14 ranked Fight Irish at Notre Dame on Friday. The final score was 154-146; IU. The entire 16 event meet came down to the last event, the 400 yard freestyle relay. The Hoosiers were trailing the Irish by one point upon entering this event. Freshman Nina Thurston, senior Anne Williams, and sophomore Tammy Kostner swam the first three legs of the relay.