Win helps IU's tournament chances

The women's basketball team took the floor at Northwestern's Welsh-Ryan Arena with a mission.\nThe Hoosiers' objective? To beat Northwestern, a team that has found no success in the Big Ten this season.\nThe Hoosiers' reasoning? They needed a win to help their chances for a better seed in the Big Ten tournament and to boost their shot at an appearance in the NCAA tournament.\n"We wanted to be sound (coming into the game)," coach Kathi Bennett said. "Defensively, we thought we could force some turnovers and take advantage of that. If we could do that, we wanted some easy baskets."\nIt seemed like an easy task. Northwestern had only four wins, none of which came in the Big Ten. But Northwestern also gave Penn State a scare earlier this month in which the Lady Lions escaped with a 65-62 win.\nBut after a few initial scares, the Hoosiers were able to capture the win, 69-52.\n"We're a hard-playing team," Northwestern coach June Olkowski said. "We play well in spurts."\nThe Wildcats (4-22, 0-16 Big Ten) had other plans than to just hand the game to IU (18-9, 9-7). At least in the first half. \nBut after only holding onto a seven-point lead in the first half, the Hoosiers came out firing in the second half.\nLess than three minutes into the second half, IU extended its lead to 11 points by hitting four of six field goals.\nThe Wildcats matched the Hoosiers in the first half, but would get no closer than eight points after IU's burst after halftime. IU had several scoring runs in the second half, but each time the Hoosiers pulled away, the Wildcats came back at them.\n"We just wanted to really come out in the first five minutes (of the second half)," junior guard Heather Cassady said. "But then they kept getting back to (within) 10, and getting back to 10, we just had to keep pushing." \nWith less than two minutes left in the game, the Wildcats were within 10, but a three-pointer from Cassady started a 6-1 run that would end the game.\nIn the first half, Northwestern hung with the Hoosiers, matching IU shot-for-shot, free throw-for-free throw, even turnover-for-turnover.\n"They've given everyone a battle in the first half," Bennett said. "We were a little bit fatigued, but both teams played well."\nAt one point, the Wildcats took the lead, 18-17. But sophomore guard Jill Hartman hit a jumper under the basket that set IU on a scoring run to re-take the lead and hold a 28-21 lead going into the break. The Hoosiers and Wildcats were even from the field, shooting just more than 33 percent. \nNorthwestern out-rebounded the Hoosiers 20-15. But junior center Jill Chapman, a usual foul magnet, had no personal fouls at the end of the half and ended the game with three.\n"I think rebounding is one of our weak areas," Chapman said. "We've got to keep boxing out, and that's one area that we are going to have to keep getting better and better at."\nChapman led the Hoosiers with 21 points.\nThe Wildcats were led by senior center Tami Sears who had 14 points and eight rebounds.\nThe next Hoosier appearance will be later this week at the Big Ten tournament, but for now they are enjoying this win.\n"A win's a win, and we need to get all the wins we can," Bennett said. "We're really close to getting 19 and 20 wins, and that's huge. We're tied for sixth in the conference, and I think that's a great turn-around"