Hoosiers hope to rebound from tough loss to Louisville

Coming off a tough road loss at Louisville, the IU women's basketball team (3-4) will wrap up its four-game road trip tonight versus Eastern Michigan University.\nOn Sunday, against the Cardinals, the Hoosiers played a back-and-forth game, losing 72-67. With 2:10 remaining in the game, IU faced its largest deficit of the day with Louisville up 66-51.\nThe Hoosiers refused to give in, hitting their final four 3-point attempts, including one by senior forward Jenny DeMuth at the buzzer, but time ran out on IU. The loss was the first road defeat of the season.\n"There is no excuse for losing," senior guard Cyndi Valentin said. "We had a couple of mental lapses in the second half that cost us. If you don't have the ball, you can't score."\nValentin led IU in the loss with a season-high 26 points as she played all 40 minutes. Showing off her all-around game, Valentin also had seven assists, five rebounds and three steals.\nAlthough the loss was tough for her team to swallow, IU coach Sharon Versyp was pleased with what she got out of the Hoosiers.\n"(The comeback) was awesome," Versyp said. "I was very pleased with the effort. If we were a little more fresh, it might have been a different result."\nIn the loss, Valentin received some much-needed offensive support from DeMuth, who turned in 19 points and 13 rebounds. Sunday's loss was the second double-double from DeMuth after a 13-point and 14-rebound performance in Friday's win against Southern Illinois.\n"It helps tremendously to have Jenny," Valentin said. "She draws defenses and can kick the ball out. Jenny brings a whole new dimension to the team."\nTonight's contest will be the last of the current four-game road trip that has seen the Hoosiers go 2-1 through three games.\n"This road trip prepares us for different things," senior forward Angela Hawkins said. "We've grown together as a team and are learning to play together."\nTonight's contest will be against an Eastern Michigan team that is in the midst of a three-game losing streak. After winning their first two games of the year, the Eagles have lost three straight by an average of 14 points.\nThe Eagles are led by junior forward Sarah VanMetre with 13 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. Senior forward Nikki Knapp is the team's second leading scorer with 10.2 points per game.\nVersyp and the Hoosiers will not be sad to see this early season road trip in the rearview mirror.\n"We really have five straight games on the road (Saturday's game is in Indianapolis)," Versyp said. "We want to get back to practice. We are getting better in game situations."\nTonight's tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Eastern Michigan.