Hoosiers upset No. 15 Minnesota

The remarkable triumph over No. 15 Minnesota marked the greatest win of an assistant's short-lived head coaching career and a peak in the women's rollercoaster season.\nAssociate head coach Trish Betthauser evened her record to 1-1 as the interim IU women's basketball coach with a dazzling performance from the Hoosiers defense in a 73-63 upset of the second-place Golden Gophers Sunday at Assembly Hall. \n"I'm still a little bit in shock, but I'm just so happy they followed through with the game plan," said Betthauser, who replaces head coach Kathi Bennett, who is recovering from a car accident in which she sustained a fractured neck vertebra.\n"As someone with the opportunity to coach young people, you just want them to believe in what you're talking about. They did. For them to follow through and have that success, that's everything."\nThe game plan called for stopping the penetration of Minnesota star guard Lindsay Whalen, gambling on her outside shooting and attacking the Gophers (20-5, 10-4 Big Ten) with high energy, halfcourt defense. \nThat strategy appeared to work.\nThe women give up 65.2 points per game to Big Ten foes, earning a fourth-place rank conference for scoring defense. On Sunday IU limited Minnesota to 63 points. Before the game at IU, the Gophers ranked third in the nation in scoring offense with 82.7 points per game, behind powerhouses Connecticut and Duke.\nThe Hoosiers (12-13, 6-8) especially stifled Whalen, who averaged 24.1 points per Big Ten game and tallied a career-high 41 points in a win over No. 7 Purdue last week. She fouled out with 16 points Sunday.\n"Indiana's defense was tremendous," Minnesota coach Brenda Oldfield said. "They were very aggressive, very active, just very inspired from start to finish. I thought Heather Cassady did a tremendous job limiting Lindsay's looks at the basket and being very aggressive with her. All the credit goes to their defense."\nWhalen racked up 22 points in the teams' last meeting, a 75-60 IU loss. But she finished Sunday on 6-of-12 shooting and two threes. \nWhile containing Whalen, the Hoosiers also limited the Gophers to 33 percent shooting for the second half and 40 percent for the game. IU did that through energetic halfcourt pressure and intense guard play, Oldfield said.\nThe upset marks IU's second win against a ranked team in nine tries, with their only other win against No. 25 Wisconsin Jan. 24. Although Bennett did not attend Sunday's game, she was involved in preparing the team, Betthauser said. Bennett was released from Bloomington Hospital Thursday night, a day behind schedule because of stomach problems. \nCenter Jill Chapman led IU with 19 points and 11 rebounds, followed by guard Tara Jones' 17 points and Cassady's 14 points and nine assists. IU shot 40 percent for the game, but was out-rebounded 43-38.\nIn her most productive output since a 21-point performance at Ohio State, Jones opened the second half with a quick, long jumper in front of IU's bench before completing a three-point play after drawing a foul on a layup.\nIU led 29-28 at the half after forcing Minnesota into 11 turnovers while committing three of their own. The Gophers kept within five points in the second half until Chapman scored on a layup to pull IU ahead 49-42 at 9:42. The Hoosiers led by as many as 12 in the second half and never trailed after 36-34 at 16:52.\nThe Hoosiers made good use of their bye week, improving defensive fundamentals since a 79-55 loss to Purdue Feb. 10, Betthauser said. The Hoosiers forced the Gophers to commit 19 turnovers.\n"We continued to get stops down the stretch and we were able to gain momentum," Betthauser said. "I do think we had a 29-23 lead at one point and they were able to get back in. At halftime we talked about coming back out with that same energy and initiating it right away"