No. 5 Hoosiers open tourney

A sign in the women's basketball locker room reads "Did You Forget?" with the score of the Hoosiers' most recent game in a Big Ten tournament -- an 81-76 loss to Iowa.\nSenior point guard Heather Cassady hasn't forgotten. She wouldn't forget a painful, five-point defeat to the eventual tournament champion. \nEven more tortuous is the fact that the Hoosiers allowed an 18-point halftime lead to collapse.\n"We definitely have not forgotten what happened in Michigan last year," Cassady said. "We'll be ready to go."\nWith revenge in mind, the fifth-seeded Hoosiers (14-13, 8-8 Big Ten) open Big Ten tournament play today at noon at Conseco Fieldhouse against the fourth-seed Hawkeyes (17-9, 10-6). The winner takes on either top-seed Purdue or ninth-seed Michigan (17-11, 6-10) Sunday.\nThe Hawkeyes nipped IU 73-65 Jan. 13 at Assembly Hall in the teams' only meeting this season. Four Hoosiers scored in double figures, but IU shot 35 percent from the field. Iowa guard Lindsey Meder, a unanimous All-Big Ten first-team honoree, tallied 23 points -- 20 in the second half.\nShe finished the regular season averaging 17 points per game, sixth-best in the conference. Shooting 44 percent on three pointers, the senior commands an offense that ranked second in the Big Ten for three-point field-goal percentage (36 percent). \nIowa guards Leah Magner and Kristi Faulkner also rank among Big Ten leaders for three pointers made.\n"We're going to defend ball screens a little bit different," said Associate head coach Trish Betthauser, who continues to lead the team from the bench after head coach Kathi Bennett's return Sunday. "We're going to have to chase (Meder) the whole time. We're just not going to give her any open looks."\nBetthauser said she also expects a challenge from Iowa's post players in Jennie Lillis, who earned All-Big Ten honorable mention, and Jerica Watson, the current Big Ten Player of the Week. Watson, a 6-foot senior, averaged 18 points and 12 rebounds in victories over Michigan State and Illinois this week.\nLillis and Watson combined for 26 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks in the last IU-Iowa matchup.\n"They're very balanced," Betthauser said. "Their inside threat, Jennie Lillis, has shown she can score at the mid. She can score at the high post. She can get to the rim. The other post player, Jerica Watson, is extremely athletic, and we had a hard time with her at our place."\nWith Watson's help, Iowa has won four of its last five games.\nAs for IU's savior, Bennett continues to wear a halo device that stabilizes her neck, which was broken in a Feb. 8 car accident. The device doesn't allow her to turn her neck, but Bennett said she could see well during Sunday's game against Northwestern, despite having trouble yelling.\n"I don't know if it's rallying around Coach Bennett, which teams sometimes do with adversity," Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. "It's a very senior-laden team with (center Jill) Chapman, Cassady and (power forward Erin) McGinnis. It's a team that's experienced. It's kind of their last shot. It seems to me they're playing with a lot of emotion right now. That's the difference between this time versus last time."\nAnother difference since last time is that the Hoosiers were stuck in a five-game losing streak when they last fell to the Hawkeyes. Now, IU is in the midst of a three-game winning streak. \nBennett said she credits the improvement to more aggressive guard play. Starter Tara Jones has averaged 15.3 points during IU's winning streak.\n"Every time we win, she's kind of our leading scorer," Bennett said. "She has looked to give us offensive production. She's shooting the three well right now, but she's also getting to the rim. She's able to create, also."\nAnd hopefully for the Hoosiers, she doesn't forget the last time IU played Iowa in the tournament, either.