Full-court press, timely baskets lead to victory

Going into winter break, the IU women's basketball team wanted to go undefeated in their four games. Although a loss in their penultimate game against Illinois spoiled those hopes, the team bounced back Thursday night with a win over Northwestern.\nIU improved to 8-4 this year and evened its Big Ten record to 1-1 with the 62-52 win over Northwestern. The Wildcats, who fell to 6-8 overall and 1-2 in the conference, controlled the momentum in the first half, leading by as many as 11 points and leading by seven at half, 30-23. But in the second half, the Hoosiers used a full-court press to increase the pace of the game and trigger easy scoring opportunities. \n"We want to play like we did in the second half all the time," IU coach Kathi Bennett said. "If we were going to win this game we needed to out-hustle (Northwestern)."\nIU did out-hustle the Wildcats on the glass, out-rebounding them by seven for the game, even though Northwestern controlled the rebounds in the first half 22-21. Also, the Wildcats had eight turnovers in the second half compared to just five in the first, most of which came as a result of IU's press.\n"Our intensity was just better in the second half," said sophomore Jenny DeMuth, who scored 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds. "We have a young team and need to learn to play well for the full 40 minutes."\nMeanwhile, senior Lisa Eckart tallied 10 points and recorded nine rebounds. Eckart agreed with DeMuth's assessment of the game and spoke of the team's struggles in the first period.\n"Coach had us very prepared for this game, we were just lazy on defense," she said. "They were quicker than we thought. On offense in the first half we simply settled for the outside shot. In the second half we drove the ball to the basket much more and that helped us."\nFreshman center Angela Hawkins netted 11 points and corralled 11 rebounds. It was her third double-double this season.\nIU struggled from the free-throw line in the first half, but responded in the second. The Hoosiers shot a mere 4-12 from the charity stripe in the first, but shot 14-18 from the line in the second half. DeMuth was 3-5 from the line for the contest.\nIU next takes on Ohio State on Sunday at Assembly Hall with tip-off at 2 p.m.\n"We proved to ourselves we can play like we did in the second half tonight," Eckart said. "We had a deficit and battled our way back and never gave up. That confidence we can use for later in the season."\nThe Hoosiers began winter break with a win over South Florida 67-60 on Saturday, Dec. 21 in Bloomington to begin the four-game stretch. Next, IU upended Illinois State 71-64 in Normal, Ill. on Monday, Dec. 30. Searching for its fifth win in its last six games, the Hoosiers strolled into Champaign, Ill. to battle Illinois in IU's first conference game of the season. The Hoosiers dropped the contest to the Fighting Illini 63-58 on Jan. 2. \nBefore the four games even began, bad news arrived. Freshman guard Kali Kullberg suffered a season-ending ACL tear in practice Dec. 17. Kullberg scored a career-high 18 points versus Georgetown 10 days earlier.\nEckart recorded 17 points and corralled 15 rebounds in the victory against South Florida on Dec. 21. DeMuth notched 20 points and added nine rebounds. IU forced 23 turnovers by the Bulls en route to the seven-point victory. \nIn the win over Illinois State on Dec. 30, freshman Cyndi Valentin tallied a career-high 22 points.\n"As a whole, it was a hard fought game against Illinois State," Bennett said. "We got some key stops and some key shots. I'm happy with the win."\nBesides Valentin, who was 8-13 from the field, senior Kristen Bodine netted 15 points and chipped in seven assists. DeMuth sat on the bench just six minutes into the second half in foul trouble while Valentin and Bodine responded. DeMuth still added nine points in 29 minutes of action.