IU claims first Big Ten road win of the season

When sophomore center Sarah McKay drained a hook shot at the end of Sunday's game at Northwestern, she sank a season's worth of road woes along with it.\nThe score moved to 54-53 in IU's favor, and it would finish that way.\nEven with time left to counter, Northwestern couldn't muster anything, as they turned the ball over twice, including an errant inbound pass by guard Sara Sutz that went over the head of Samantha McComb with two seconds remaining.\nAfter two missed free throws from junior guard Cyndi Valentine, Northwestern's half-court heave fell well short of the basket and the Hoosiers walked away from Welsh Ryan Arena with the win.\nTo finish off the road portion of the season with a win is good momentum for the four remaining games, all at Assembly Hall, sophomore forward Carrie Smith said.\n"It feels amazing and really great (to win)," Smith said. "We were in need of a win, and it's good for morale and it will be good to come home with a win."\nSmith, who was only averaging seven minutes per game, played 21 against Northwestern, chipped in 15 points, including three of four from three point range. Valentin lead the Hoosiers in scoring with 19 points.\nIn a back and forth game, it took the Hoosiers nearly 30 minutes before they grabbed their first lead of the day 45-44 on an acrobatic layup by Valentin.\nThe remainder of the game would see neither team establish a lead of more than four points, as the Wildcats (5-20, Big Ten 2-10) lead 53-49 with less than three minutes to play.\nThe Hoosiers (10-13, Big Ten 3-10) quickly countered with a three-pointer by Smith to cut the margin down to one.\n"Carrie was phenomenal today," IU coach Kathi Bennett said. "She really stepped up when we needed her most."\nBench play proved to be the difference, as IU outscored the Wildcats 21-20 to get the win, sophomore guard Annika Boyd said.\n"Before (the bench players) haven't really gotten a chance, and they finally got a chance to prove themselves today," Boyd said.\nAfter getting off to a slow start, taking more than four minutes to score, the Hoosiers got on the board with a Valentin jumper, tying the Wildcats at 19 on a McKay hook shot with six minutes left in the first half.\nThe Achilles heel for IU on the road this season has been turnover differential. But Sunday it proved to be a strength as solid defense forced 18 Wildcat turnovers en route to 15 points compared to Northwestern's four.\nThe sweep of Northwestern put the Hoosiers alone in ninth place could be important because the difference of who IU might play come Big Ten Tournament time. The conference tournament starts March 3 in Indianapolis.\n"We showed a lot of heart today. We never stopped playing hard," Bennett said. "It feels good to get this win, and hopefully we can build on it and continue to play like this for the rest of the season." \n-- Contact Staff Writer Dan Click at daaclick@indiana.edu.