Women's team must replace 4 starters

If associate head coach Trish Betthauser gets her way, the women's basketball team might play like the men's team next year.\nBetthauser said she expects the rebuilding Hoosiers to play a more up-tempo style and score more points off transition. IU (17-14, 8-8 Big Ten) probably won't live by the three pointer like the men's team does. But the 2002-03 women should feature versatile scorers and much-needed depth at point guard, Betthauser said.\nFive seniors, including four starters, leave one of the program's most successful teams. The Hoosiers upset ranked rivals Penn State, Purdue, Minnesota and Wisconsin and won their first Big Ten tournament title, earning their first NCAA tournament bid since 1995.\n"We're going to be looked at in the league as rebuilding with four (starting) seniors gone," Betthauser said. "That can work to our advantage because we can sneak a few."\nThe Hoosiers tied for fifth in the Big Ten but lose 73 percent of their offense with the departures of centers Jill Chapman and Jelena Lazic, guards Heather Cassady and Tara Jones and power forward Erin McGinnis. \nCoach Kathi Bennett signed five recruits -- three guards and two forwards -- but a sixth could join this spring, said Betthauser, who spent Sunday recruiting in Indianapolis. Seniors Lisa Eckart and Kristen Bodine could bolster the roster with complete scoring after sitting out this past season.\nIU's biggest weakness might be lack of chemistry with eight to nine newcomers, Betthauser said. \nThe lone returning starter is guard Jenny DeMuth (7.1 ppg, 5.5 rpg). The 2001 Indiana Miss Basketball runner-up has struggled on offense at the college level.\n"She needs a middle game and needs to develop confidence with her long-range shot," Betthauser said. "She has great mechanics with follow-through and setting up, but she has to get the footwork down."\nGuards Jill Hartman (3.1 ppg) and Khisha Asubuhi (2.9 ppg) and forward Allison Skapin must step up as senior leaders. The 6-foot Skapin also will help replace Chapman, the only Hoosier to score more than 1,860 points and grab more than 970 rebounds in a career. So will redshirt freshman Me'sha Salters and 6-3 freshman forward Angela Hawkins. Skapin (2.6 ppg, 1.3 rpg) can hold her own with Big Ten posts, Betthauser said, but must work on finishing this summer.\n"We had a good year, and now I'm excited for next year," Skapin said. "I'll work on my moves and work on getting into better shape and my ball-handling." \nSalters could play power forward or center after sitting out this past season because of academic ineligibility. She averaged 16 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks as a high school senior and led her team to the Georgia state title as a junior. \n"She challenged Jill in practice daily on the defensive end," Betthauser said. "She pushes off the block, gets blocks. She's 6-foot, 6-1. Competing against the conference, her size will be a factor." \nBetthauser said posts Hawkins and 6-2 freshman Brigett Branson display good range. An Indiana Junior All-Star from Marshall, Ind., Branson can shoot from three-point range and averaged 14.1 points and blocked 32 shots as junior. Hawkins is a national top-60 prospect from Winter Haven, Fla., and can score from 12- to 15-foot range.\n"We'll still stress half-court, man-to-man defense, but we'll get points in different ways," Betthauser said. "Especially with Kristen Bodine returning very healthy. She pushes the tempo."\nThe 5-11 Bodine loves to run the floor and pass, Betthauser said. The Martinsville native and Butler transfer sat out this season after tearing an ACL in the third game. She will appeal a medical redshirt from the NCAA. \n"It has a good chance of going through," Betthauser said.\nKali Kullberg, a 5-8 guard from Mound, Minn., and LeeAnn Stephenson, a 5-6 junior guard from Garland, Texas, will backup Bodine. A junior college transfer, Stephenson can penetrate but needs to improve her three-point shooting, Betthauser said.\nEckart, a 6-foot transfer forward from Evansville, might develop into the team's star next season. She can hit shots off screens, defensively rebound and flaunts good ball-handling skills, Betthauser said. Eckart averaged 15.5 points and seven rebounds, earning Missouri Valley Conference honors as a junior.\nCyndi Valentin, a 5-foot-8 guard, averaged 22 points as a Bloomington High School South senior.\n"Cyndi is a complete player," Bennett said. "She is a scorer with three-point range who can get to the rim and pull up for the medium-range jumper. She is very explosive on both ends. I believe Cyndi is one of the best two-guards around."\nBut the startling lineup remains bleak. \n"As far as who starts, we have a long way to go," Betthauser said.