Hoosiers split tourney in Alaska

Playing in their second tournament in less than a week the IU women's basketball team split a pair of games at the Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage, Ala.\nThe Hoosiers lost in the Championship game against Nevada 68-56 Nov. 27. A day earlier, IU defeated Eastern Kentucky 61-49. In the championship, sophomore guard Jenny DeMuth poured in 26 points and added seven rebounds, but it was not enough as IU suffered its first loss of the season. The Hoosiers fell to 3-1 on the year. \nIt truly was a tale of two halves. The Hoosiers led 24-8 with just under seven minutes to play in the first half and led by eleven at half. But in the second half the lead would slip away. The Wolfpack exploded with a 31-6 run to open the half, and IU never regained control.\n"I'm really disappointed with our defensive performance in the second half," coach Kathi Bennett said. "We just collapsed. They made their run early in the half, and we fell apart. The adversity actually made us worse, not better." \nIU shot 44 percent from the field in the first half, while Nevada shot a mere 30 percent. In the second, the Wolfpack shot over 50 percent from the field compared to IU's 32 percent. Nevada, who returned three starters from last year, improved to 2-1. \nDeMuth was the lone Hoosier to score in double-figures, but freshman center Angela Hawkins grabbed eleven rebounds. Senior Lisa Eckart chipped in eight points. DeMuth is averaging a little over 19 points per game as a sophomore and is taking reign of the leadership role.\n"I really don't know what happened to us out there," DeMuth said. "In the second half, they were able to just get the ball in the post whenever they wanted and get easy baskets. We didn't pressure their passes enough."\nIU outrebounded Nevada, but that would not help the Hoosiers. The Wolfpack used an offensive explosion to claim the Great Alaska title, their first and marked the first year that Nevada played in the tournament. DeMuth earned All-Tournament honors, while Nevada senior Laura Ingham, a native of Anchorage, tallied a career-best 19 points and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament. \nNevada's victory over the host school Alaska Anchorage on Nov. 26 advanced them to the title game.\nDespite committing 39 turnovers, the Hoosiers defeated Eastern Kentucky and won their third consecutive game. IU committed 22 turnovers by halftime, one more than they had committed in two full games prior to Nov. 26.\nDeMuth said Eastern Kentucky was a good experience for IU. She said they are going to see other teams like this, and for them to play like they did and still win is a good thing. She added this serves as a rude awakening and shows them that they have got to be tough with the ball.\nSenior guard Kristen Bodine notched a game-high 17 points, while Hawkins scored ten points and corralled a career-high 13 rebounds. Demuth added 15 points and 11 rebounds to go along with five steals. \nWith the win, Bennett became the second-fastest IU head coach to reach the 40-win mark. Bennett accomplished the act in 65 games.\nThe previous weekend, IU won the Hampton Inn/Fazoli's Classic championship by outlasting Ball State in the title game on Nov. 23. The Hoosiers, who have won three out of their first four games, could not muster enough to win the tournament and said they have a long way to go, especially defensively. \n"In Alaska our defense wasn't working well together," senior Jill Hartman said. "We need to spend a lot of time working on that. We have been working on that in practice now and need to continue to do so. We learned from Alaska, it was a real disappointment but now we know the areas that need more work"