Hoosiers trying to break out of slump

Junior forward Erin McGinnis said the women's basketball team isn't looking to win -- just not to lose. \nHead coach Kathi Bennett said her Hoosiers need to get back to playing tough -- the same approach that jump-started them to a 13-3 start this season. \nSince then, IU has dropped five of its last seven games. \nThe Hoosiers get another opportunity at 7:30 p.m. today against Wisconsin to execute the changes McGinnis and Bennett discussed.\n"We were so successful early on, because we were playing so hard," Bennett said. "Recently, we have not been playing as hard as we can. Our emotional level and our intensity has dropped. Somehow, we have got to get back the emotional side, and hopefully we can do that (tonight)."\nThe Hoosiers are coming off a 27-point loss to Iowa, the biggest deficit the season. This week hasn't featured good practices, as Bennett had hoped.\n"(We've been practicing) trying to get back to playing hard," Bennett said. "I know that sounds simple, but right now, we're turning the ball over a great deal. We're hanging our heads when we make a mistake, or when we let a team score on us. We've got to get that toughness back." \nIU was plagued by bad shooting and turnovers, and attitudes are low, Bennett said.\n"Playing Wisconsin is going to be tough, because they are a physical team, and very big," Bennett said. "A win against them could do wonders for us."\nThe Hoosiers thought the season was going to be revived after a big home win against Ohio State that snapped a four-game losing streak. But the Hoosiers are seventh in the Big Ten and hovering around a .500 record.\n If the Hoosiers (14-7, 5-5 Big Ten) win tonight, they could move into a tie for fifth place, depending on what happens in other Big Ten games.\n "This win is crucial to the rest of our season," McGinnis said. "We have three games left at home, and we definitely have to get those, and at least one of the other ones. This has got to be a starting point for us. We have to change our game back to what it used to be."\n The Badgers sit in a different position. Coach Jane Albright just coached her 500th game, and a win against IU would make her the winningest coach in Wisconsin history.\n The Badgers are tied for the No. 2 spot in the Big Ten. They took undefeated Purdue to overtime Jan. 28 and moved up five places in the latest national rankings.\n"Players decide games, and emotion can carry you so far, and then it breaks down, and it's what you do on the court," Bennett said. "But it can give you a little advantage."\nThe Hoosiers lost their last game against Wisconsin. When the two teams met Jan. 21, the Badgers won 69-62.\n"We only lost by seven points, and we weren't even playing our best game," freshman guard Nicole Motto said. "If we bring our best game out for 40 minutes, there will be a different outcome."\nIn the first contest, IU held the lead only twice and got into foul trouble early. Foul trouble has been a recent problem for the Hoosiers.\nJunior forward Jessie Stomski led Wisconsin with 25 points and 10 rebounds in the first meeting. She was 5-for-11 from the field, and hit 15-for-21 from the foul line. Wisconsin out-rebounded IU 40-27. \n"We have to stop their inside game," Bennett said. "Stomski really ate us up. We've got to be better at rotating, and we've got to be so much better off the ball. We got no rotations, we double-teamed late, and they got the ball out of them. For us to be successful we have to do a great job inside."\nIU's problems on the court don't reflect the team's cohesiveness, Bennett said.\n"We have a team that is very much together, and we feel terrible about how we've been playing," Bennett said. "It's not for lack of unity, or leadership, or togetherness. We just have to find a way to break out"