On the road again for the Hoosiers

IU's ladies of the hardwood take back to the floor in a road match-up with Iowa at 7 p.m. tonight.\nThe Hoosiers sit at 8-6 overall and 1-2 in conference play on the heels of Sunday's hard-nosed 65-59 loss at Michigan. \nTonight's contest will mark the fourth time in five games IU has battled away from the friendly confines at Assembly Hall, and the travel is weighing on the team, coach Kathi Bennett said. \n"It's new for a lot of people," she said. "It's draining, especially since we're back in classes. I wish we could have had some Thursday road games when we were on break, but it's all part of the experience." \nSo far this season, Bennett's squad is just 3-5 on the road, including two conference losses to Michigan and Michigan State.\n"It's tough," sophomore guard Cyndi Valentin said. "It gets tiring having to travel a lot, but it's just something we have to push through."\nTo complicate matters, an IU team hasn't won in Iowa City since 1994 and the Hoosiers are just 1-17 inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena since 1984.\n"(The Hawkeyes) get great crowds," Bennett said. "Their energy and intensity level that they play with at home is incredible. It's a tremendous atmosphere."\nThis year's Iowa team finds itself at 7-7 and 1-2 in the Big Ten, with the conference losses coming against Big Ten favorites Penn State and Purdue. \nFourth-year coach Lisa Bluder fronts a potent offensive attack with some standout scorers, Bennett said. \n"They're a good team," she said. "They have two tremendous seniors in Jennie Lillis, who I think is the best forward in the Big Ten, and guard Kristi Faulkner."\nIn fact, Iowa boasts three of the Big Ten's top 15 scorers in Lillis (15.5 ppg), Faulkner (14.4 ppg) and junior center Jamie Cavey (16.9 ppg). \nConfronting Iowa's leading scorers in the post will be IU's emerging freshman center, 6-foot-7 Sarah McKay. Since she exploded her way into the lineup with a 19-point, 19-minute performance against Arkansas Dec. 20, McKay has earned herself five straight starts, averaging 10.2 points, 9.4 rebounds and nearly three blocks per game in that span.\n"It's been the coaches," McKay said. "It's the way that they've kept pushing me and my teammates, setting me up for good passes and keeping me going when I get down on myself."\nMcKay and the Hoosiers return home Sunday for an afternoon tilt with Northwestern.\n-- Contact staff writer Ryan J. Cost at rjcost@indiana.edu.