IU advances in conference tourney

After having IU's hard-fought lead whittled down to only one point with five seconds left in the first half, Hoosier sophomore Cyndi Valentin quickly dribbled up the court and sent a blind shot into the air from behind the arc with no time left on the clock. The shot bounced off of the glass, went around the rim and dropped through the ring, giving the Hoosiers the four point advantage at the half. \nFrom then on, the Hoosiers never looked back. \nAs the ninth seed, IU took the opening game of the women's Big Ten Tournament against eighth seed Wisconsin, 57-39, improving the Hoosiers' record to 12-16 and ending Wisconsin's season for the second straight year. After Valentin hit the desperation shot to send the Hoosiers into the locker room, IU outscored the Badgers 31-17 in the second half. \n"I'm really excited about our defensive performance," IU coach Kathi Bennett said. "In the second half, we came out ready. I thought the adjustments we made at half were good. We just found a way in the second half to respond to some crucial situations."\nJunior Jenny DeMuth led the Hoosiers with 15 points and eight rebounds, while Valentin turned in 12 points of her own. Freshman Sarah McKay rounded out the Hoosier scoring with 10 points, while sophomore Angela Hawkins nearly scored a double-double with eight points and 13 rebounds. \nPrior to the game, Wisconsin coach Lisa Stone said rebounding was crucial if her Badgers wanted to take the game. Fortunately for IU, Stone was right, as the Hoosiers out-rebounded the Badgers 42-33.\n"We've got to rebound," Stone said. "They'll push the ball in transition. We've got to contest high and hard. We have to rebound. We'll have a size advantage, and rebounding obviously is going to be a very key stat for us."\nAs a result of the win, IU will face the Big Ten's top seed, No. 5 Penn State, in the second round of the tournament. The Lady Lions finished the regular season at 23-4 and lead the conference with a 15-1 record against Big Ten opponents.\nPSU is led by Kelly Mazzante, who ranks at third in the conference in scoring with a 20.6 points per game average. Mazzante paces three other Lady Lions with double-digit scoring averages. \nDespite the high ranking of its opponent, DeMuth said her team is poised to get an upset in the same manner as IU's 2002 Big Ten Tournament Championship. DeMuth is the only active Hoosier who played during the championship run. \n"We showed tonight that we're ready, and we're going to fight for everything we can get," DeMuth said. "Penn State is the number one seed, but look what happened two years ago when we beat the number one seed."\n-- Contact senior writer Dan Patrick at djpatric@indiana.edu.