Hoosiers gain confidence from preseason blowout of Finnish team

Tapiolan Honka was culled from the finest women's basketball players -- in the Helsinki area.\nThe Finnish team hasn't fared so well against American opponents.\nNow 0-7 on their tour, they've been blown out in all their exhibition matches this year, outscored by an average of 50 points. Some of the more lopsided games include a 119-44 loss to No. 1 Purdue and a 101-44 defeat at the hands of Kentucky.\nFor the Boilermakers, it was little more than a practice.\n"It gave us confidence and allowed us to get a feel for things," Purdue coach Kristy Curry said. "I was really pleased."\nThe Hoosiers fared almost as well, notching an 87-39 victory at Assembly Hall Friday.\nAnd although the victory was easy, IU didn't come out of the preseason game with empty hands. \nFrom the pregame warm-ups, it was apparent the Hoosiers would have no trouble dominating the paint. They towered over Tapiolan Honka, whose tallest player is center Nina Laaksonen at 6-foot-1. By contrast, the Hoosiers boast seven players at six feet or taller, including 6-foot-4 junior starting center Jill Chapman.\nOn that front, the game offered no surprises. The Hoosiers outrebounded Tapiolan Honka 51-25.\nChapman scored 13 points and pulling down 12 rebounds in only 19 minutes of play. Still, with Tapiolan Honka mounting an aggressive defense, she didn't take the game lightly, saying she worked as hard as she always does.\nAnd Chapman said she thinks lessons from the experience might come in handy later.\n"I think I'm more aggressive when I play against taller people," she said. "I need to do that all the time."\nOffensively, the Hoosiers played the height card to full advantage, frequently feeding the ball inside. Reserve forwards Tara Jones, a senior, and Allison Skapin, a sophomore, came up big in the second half, scoring six points and eight points respectively. Jones also grabbed six rebounds, as did backup sophomore center Erika Christenson.\nAfter a 10-point loss to the Reebok Lady All Stars to start out the year, it was all part of the game plan, she said. \n"Offensively, we took good shots," Bennett said. "We didn't do that last week."\nThe Hoosiers did improve their shooting percentage, hitting 37 shots in 69 attempts from the floor. Against the Lady All Stars, they only sunk 22 of 65 field goals, a meager nine out of 34 in the second half.\nIn that game, junior guard Heather Cassady had an off-night, making only one field goal in eight attempts. Against the Finnish squad, she recovered, scoring a game-high 14 points.\nBut Cassady and fellow guard Rainey Alting, a senior, focused their efforts more on moving around the ball from the top of the key against the Finnish team. At the end, Alting had tallied a game-high six assists.\nTheir numbers might seem like nothing to write home about. But unlike with the Lady All Stars, the statistics were spread fairly evenly across the field.\nBy the final buzzer, most of the women got in at least 10 minutes of playing time.\n"We got to play 13 players hard tonight," Bennett said. "Usually, 10 is very nice."\nAnd beyond better ball movement and shooting judgment, the Hoosiers came out of the preseason game better prepared to face a full-court press.\nAfter IU leaped out to a 12-0 lead, Tapiolan Honka turned on the pressure from baseline to baseline, forcing 17 turnovers in the first half. In one sequence midway through the half, the Hoosiers lost possession of the ball five times in two minutes before Cassady broke the streak by sinking a three-pointer.\n"We hadn't practiced for a full-court defense," Bennett said. "But it's something we have to address."\nAlso, Bennett said the win would raise morale.\n"We played hard for 40 minutes," she said. "Hopefully, this will build up some confidence"