DeMuth dominates in tournament win

The Hoosier women's basketball team started off the season on the right foot by winning the Indiana Classic for the seventh straight time. IU rolled over Cornell 75-41 in the first contest Saturday and pummeled the North Texas Lady Eagles 79-60 in the championship game.\nIU had control throughout the game against North Texas, leading by as much as 28 points in the game. By the end of the first half, IU led 44-25. During the first half, IU showed its defensive abilities by limiting the Lady Eagles to an anemic 26.8 field goal percentage.\nHoosier junior Jenny DeMuth notched a double-double in the first half by scoring 20 points and collecting 10 rebounds. DeMuth led the team in four categories and finished the contest with a career-high 30 points, 12 rebounds and five steals. She also turned the ball over only once in the first half and finished the game with three.\n"(DeMuth) was awesome," IU coach Kathi Bennett said after the game. "The aggressiveness and attacking the rim, the little things that this team needs her to do, just the difference that she makes is incredible." \nThe Hoosiers showed their capabilities on both sides of the court in the first half by holding the Lady Eagles to only 25 points while draining 44 points of their own. In both the preseason contests, IU has faltered defensively in the second half, but the team said its second half defense improved against North Texas. \n"I think the difference was that we picked it up defensively," DeMuth said. "Tonight in the second half, we didn't give up that many points. We've made huge strides defensively."\nIn the Hoosiers' first game of the Indiana Classic, IU dominated Cornell in the first half and held the Big Red scoreless for more than eight minutes en route to a 24-0 run to place the score at 36-6 in the Hoosiers' favor. At the end of the first half, Cornell could not break into double digits with the scales tipped 40-9 in IU's favor.\nDespite the impressive performance in the first half, the second half did not go so well for IU as the Hoosiers gave up 32 points from 11-of-23 shooting. \nBennett was not pleased with IU's defense in the second half. \n"I thought we played hard start to finish, we didn't consistently play smart," Bennett said after the Cornell game. "We were disappointed with our defensive performance in the second half. With 10 minutes left to go in the second half, I thought we really broke down. I didn't feel we were contesting as well as we could have."\nAs expected, IU utilized its young roster in both games, with all five freshmen turning in significant minutes during the first contest. Freshman forward Jamey Chapman also started both games. Chapman said that she was happy to get the regular season started.\n"I felt a little more pressure, the exhibition games were still games, but these are the ones that really count," Chapman said. "I feel good that it's finally started."\nSurprisingly, 5-foot-8-inch sophomore guard Cyndi Valentin led the team with eight rebounds in the Cornell game. DeMuth gave Bennett yet another impressive performance as she led the team with 19 points, six steals and two blocks.\nAs a result of their efforts, Hoosier guards Valentin and DeMuth were named to the All-Tournament team and DeMuth was also named the Indiana Classic's Most Valuable Player.\nThe team will return to action in the Paradise Jam Nov. 28-29. The four-game tournament will take place in the Virgin Islands. The Hoosiers will go against Mississippi State for their first game and will then play the winner of Virginia Tech-Iowa State to round out the tournament.\n-- Contact staff writer Dan Patrick at djpatric@indiana.edu.