Lady Hoosiers prepare for home tournament

The women's basketball team learned something in its 97-72 win against Butler Wednesday. \nWinning isn't everything. \nAlthough the outcome of the game was never really in question, the Hoosiers dominating the whole way, IU left the locker room in Hinkle Fieldhouse with almost a look of defeat on their faces. Almost.\nGetting a win under their belts was important for a Hoosier team that has played with No. 7 Stanford and No. 9 North Carolina State. At 2-2, the Hoosiers are now ready to continue to improve and add to their two game win streak.\n"We've never been in a situation before (where we are favored)," coach Kathi Bennett said prior to Wednesday's game with the Bulldogs. "I don't know how we'll respond."\nThe team responded with a showing that Bennett was not satisfied with, especially defensively, as the Hoosiers surrendered over 70 points to a winless Butler team.\n"You're always happy when you get a win. The danger is that the win can't cloud the things we got to improve on, which are a lot. I think our defense has to get a lot better."\nRight after the game, IU knew what they had to work on: defense.\n"I'd say transition defense is what we'll need to work on," junior forward Jamie Gathing said after the Butler game.\nThat brings the team to this weekend and the Hoosier's Holiday Inn/Fazoli's Classic. Friday night, IU will play the winless Redbirds of Illinois State. At 0-3, ISU has struggled early this season, mostly recently falling to Louisville, 72-58. The IU-ISU winner will battle Sunday with either Murray State (2-2) or North Arizona (4-0) who meet in the first round. North Arizona has dominated its competition, beating all but one opponent by a margin of 15 points or more.\nShowing all due respect to the other three teams in the Classic, IU views itself as the favorite and is looking forward to the opportunity to continue to build its confidence level and improve its over-all play, especially on the defensive end.\n"I think we need to win our tournament, and then go out to Washington and win those games too (in the Pac 10/Big Ten challenge)," senior center Jill Chapman said.