Hoosiers advance in blowout

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- The women's basketball team has shown many similarities to its male counterpart this season. Both squads are operating under a first-year coach, have unnerving tendencies to blow big leads and had the ability to beat a Minnesota basketball team within 24 hours of each other.\nBut when the Hoosiers faced the Golden Gophers Thursday night at the Van Andel Arena, the stakes were different. Both teams were fighting it out to advance to the second round of the women's Big Ten Tournament. IU won the battle, 78-56.\n"We have so much to play for," coach Kathi Bennett said. "We're playing fearlessly, because we have nothing to lose."\nHistory could have doomed the Hoosiers, who are 0-2 on neutral courts. But after building a nine-point lead on Minnesota (8-20, 1-15) going into the half, IU (19-9, 9-7) was off to the races.\nWithin five minutes in the second half, the Hoosiers built a 20-point lead and were shooting more than 85 percent from the field. \n"(At halftime), I told them I don't care if you miss every shot you take, if it's a good shot, you need to take it," Bennett said. "I told them they need to go to the glass with a vengeance, and they listened and did that."\nBoth teams went on runs early in the second half. \nIU went on a 10-3 scoring run as Minnesota continued the trend it started in the first half and managed four turnovers in seven minutes.\n"We made some youthful mistakes," Minnesota coach Cheryl Littlejohn said. "We came out a little sluggish, and they jumped on us."\nThe Gophers got a spark in their offense between the turnovers late in the second half. Freshman guard Lindsay Whalen went to the free throw line two times in 10 seconds, starting a scoring run for the Gophers.\nWhalen was a headache for the Hoosiers in the two previous games, getting junior guard Heather Cassady in foul trouble while racking up offensive points. \nBut Cassady had a different plan this time.\n"(Heather's) a good defender," Whalen said. "She moves her feet well, and she forces you to go places you don't want to go."\nDespite Cassady's tough defense, Whalen was Minnesota's top scorer, finishing with a team-high 22 points.\nMinnesota closed the gap to 14 with eight minutes left, but by then junior forward Jill Chapman was lighting up the floor.\n"(Jill's) a dominant center," Littlejohn said. "I would for like her to be a senior. She's a very good defender, and a threat offensively and defensively." \nChapman had a season-high 29 points, 23 of which came in the second half. She tallied 10 in the final eight minutes of the game.\nThe lead the Golden Gophers had two minutes into the game was its last, except in the turnover department. The Golden Gophers had 13 turnovers in the first half, nine coming in the first nine minutes.\nThe Hoosiers had minimal success capitalizing on Minnesota's miscues. As they headed into intermission, the Hoosiers were shooting slightly above 31 percent, and were 11-of-35 from the field.\n"We weren't being aggressive offensively," Bennett said. "We were open for 15-footers, and we're not willing to take them."\nThe Gophers went on a scoring run in the final three minutes of the first half to cut a 14-point Hoosier lead to nine, at 29-20.\nThe Hoosiers face Iowa at 6 p.m. today. The Hawkeyes crushed IU 83-56 earlier this season and are seeded third in the tournament, but IU is optimistic about its chances.\n"This is a great situation to be in," Bennett said. "That's the mentality we have to be in. Winning against them gives us 20 wins, and a great look to be in the (NCAA) tournament, and we understand that"