Hoosiers take on Hoyas at home

Before the women's basketball season started, coach Kathi Bennett was worried about the inexperience and youth of her team. It turns out that freshmen Angela Hawkins, April Williams, Cyndi Valentin, Kali Kullberg and Brigett Branson have been assets to the Hoosiers' scoring and defense. Their toughness and quickness on the court will be useful in Saturday's match-up against undefeated Georgetown.\n"They play fearlessly, and they play hard," Bennett said. "But we've all got to play together and play tough. I don't feel we're really tough right now."\nEarlier this week Hawkins ranked third in the Big Ten, averaging 9.8 rebounds per game. She is no stranger to the starting line-up this season, starting the last two games, and said she's excited about the Georgetown game because of what she's seen in practice since Florida.\n"Our communication and encouragement for each other has been one thing we've needed to work on," Hawkins said. "Today in practice, I finally saw that. I think it's coming together."\nCommunication and encouragement won't do it all for the Hoosiers though. Georgetown comes to meet the 3-2 Hoosiers with a 5-0 record. Hawkins said the Hoosier defense would need to play a key role in this weekend's game.\nSenior Lisa Eckart said she would also like to see five players play good defense at the same time. She added it will be important to IU's play and will set the tone of the entire game.\n"We also need to work on shooting," Eckart said. "The only thing we can do about that is keep practicing. And hopefully, things will fall into place and we'll come out of this slump."\nBennett said she thinks that starting games out better will help bring the team out of their losing streak. When games aren't going so well in the beginning, she said she'd like to see her team battle that and get more intense and passionate about the game.\nAlthough it is Hoyas' first trip to Assembly Hall, it certainly won't be for former Bloomington North standout Nok Duany. Duany plays an important role for the Hoyas as a team co-captain and is second on the team in scoring and rebounding. Bennett said she expects Duany to be fired up for the game.\n"They have some real athletic inside players," Bennett said. "They shoot their three-point shot extremely well."\nBennett said she hopes sophomore Jenny DeMuth will be back in the Hoosier line-up Saturday after suffering a concussion at the Florida State game Tuesday night. She hasn't practiced yet this week, but Bennett said she is confident that she'll be back on the court Saturday to help beat the Hoyas.\nHawkins wasn't the only team member who noticed good things happening in practice Thursday. Eckart said their main problems are the areas they each have to work on individually, and it's finally coming together in practice. She said the team's main battle right now is the one they face against themselves.\n"There are a lot of things within our team that we need to work on and improve," Eckart said.\nMore than anything, Eckart said she and her teammates are ready to get back on the court and redeem themselves.\n"I think we need to stick together as a team since we've lost two games in a row," Eckart said. "I think it's very important for us to hang together and get a win so we can turn things around"