Chapman overpowers Gophers

An ecstatic Jill Chapman rose to her feet and let out a shrill whoop to celebrate drawing a charge against Minnesota star Lindsay Whalen in IU's 73-63 win Sunday at Assembly Hall. \nAt the 1:33 mark in the second half , Whalen fouled out with 16 points, signifying the Hoosier center's continual triumph against the No. 15 Gophers and Minnesota's complete destruction against an overpowering defense.\nChapman exploded for a team-high 19 points and 11 rebounds, her conference-leading 13th double-double for the season. The 6-5 center refused to allow her inconsistent Hoosiers (12-13, 6-8 Big Ten) to stumble again to a top-25 team, also snubbing a dreary finale to her college career.\nAlthough far from the conference leaders, the feisty Hoosiers distorted the Big Ten by upsetting the second-place Gophers (20-5, 10-4 Big Ten), who surprised league leader Purdue, 73-64, Thursday.\n"If we keep winning these games, we'll have a lot of confidence going into the Big Ten tournament," said Chapman, who's never reached the tournament semi-final in her career. "Who knows what's going to happen? Hopefully, we'll end up winning that and going on. \n"I'm not ready to quit playing for IU yet, and I know the other four seniors aren't either."\nChapman took advantage of the foul trouble of Minnesota's post players while picking up no fouls herself in the first half. The tidy performance was a far cry from a week ago when she fouled out with a season-low four points against Purdue.\nChapman has made a habit of rebounding from dismal performances. She also tallied four points against Michigan Jan. 20, only to resurrect with a season-high 30 points against No. 25 Wisconsin for the following contest.\nMany of Chapman's baskets Sunday arrived at key moments. She scored on a putback of her own miss at 12:35 to put the Hoosiers up 45-40, igniting a 9-4 run that upped IU's lead to 54-44 at 6:46. Chapman fouled Minnesota center Janel McCarville on the next possession, her first foul of the game with 12:29 left.\nAt that point, McCarville (19 points, four rebounds) had been called for three fouls. She finished with three, and forwards Corrin Von Wald and Kadidja Andersson registered four and three fouls apiece.\nThe foul trouble hindered McCarville, who averages 14.3 points in Big Ten play, in particular, Minnesota coach Brenda Oldfield said. The Gophers knew the Hoosiers would double-team them, but IU's defense still disrupted Minnesota's usual continuity on offense, she said.\n"I think it was hard for her today because she got into early foul trouble and she became tentative both in the first half and in the second half," Oldfield said of McCarville. "She's been able, for the most part this season, to be very aggressive. She's usually prepared for what she's going to see. At the same time, we've got to be able to react to it a lot better."\nChapman also kept the Gophers from seriously threatening IU. After Minnesota pulled to within seven points after a jumper by Andersson, Chapman scored off a putback from a missed foul shot by point guard Heather Cassady. That increased IU's lead to 62-53 at 3:00.\nChapman scored off three consecutive possessions late in the first half to reverse the game while Minnesota still had a chance to gain control. With IU down 21-20 after forward Erin McGinnis missed one of two foul shots, Chapman grabbed a defensive board and squeezed inside on the other end of the court to pull IU ahead 22-21. She then drained two straight turnarounds to hand the Hoosiers the lead for the half.\n"The last time we played, Jill also had a very good game, point-wise," said Cassady, referring to Chapman's 26 points in the last contest between the two teams. "I thought they would maybe mix it up a little bit. The lob was still there today. She really came to the ball really well and posted up extremely well"