Women's basketball coach wins debut with Hoosiers

Mike Davis' rout of Pepperdine will go down on the record books as more historic.\nBut a new era has also dawned for the women's basketball team.\nIn the season opener, coach Kathi Bennett led the Hoosiers to a 77-74 overtime win against Washington.\nAfter two consecutive losing seasons, IU brought Bennett in to turn around the program, a task at which she has a proven track record.\nShe took the long respectable Lady Titans at the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh to the next level. Under her tenure, they won five conference titles, made six NCAA tournament appearances and claimed a NCAA Division III Championship. \nThe University of Evansville was impressed. So she ended up coaching in Division I. For the first two seasons, she seemed in too deep with a 9-43 record. But Bennett led the Purple Aces to an NCAA tournament berth in her third year. She then brought them to a 23-7 overall record and a 14-4 Missouri Valley mark, both school-bests.\nIn her IU debut, the Hoosiers appeared ready to go. They nursed a lead for most of the game, which reached as many as 11 points midway through the second half. They played aggressive defense, forcing 20 turnovers. \nAnd while they only shot 41.8 percent from the field, they moved the ball around. \nBennett couldn't speak highly enough of the teamwork.\n"It is so deserving to be rewarded for the effort we put out," she said. "We really showed teamwork and toughness."\nHuskies coach June Daugherty questioned the outcome of the game. After junior guard Tara Jones missed two free-throws with nine-tenths of a second left, a skirmish for the rebound sent the ball out of bounds. The Hoosiers inbounded from the baseline, and junior guard Heather Cassady found Jones for the game-winning basket. \n"You can't go from pass to shot in 0.3 seconds," Daugherty said. "It should have gone to double overtime."\nBut she commended Bennett for the Hoosiers' performance. \n"I have to congratulate them for a hard-fought game," Daugherty said. "They hurt us from the long range." \nBut it was defense that won the game. While the Huskies only went 8-22 last season, they're known for their explosive backcourt. \nSophomore guard Loree Payne is sitting out four to five weeks with a fractured foot. Even so, All Pac-10 guard Megan Franza, who averaged 17.2 points per game last year, also could have turned the tide.\nBennett played Jones for 40 minutes, having her aggressively hound Franza. In the first half, the strategy worked. Franza shot 0 for 6 from the field.\n"I just kept telling myself, 'got to stop her,'" Jones said. \nFranza eventually led the Huskies to a second-half rally and finished the game with 23 points. But without her early offensive presence, the Hoosiers were able to set the tone.