Hoosiers run away with 1st exhibition game

The Felisha Legette-Jack era at IU officially began Friday with the Hoosiers' shellacking of the University of Indianapolis at Assembly Hall.\nThe IU women's basketball team started its season with a 66-35 victory against the Greyhounds in its first exhibition game. Sophomore forward Whitney Thomas led the Hoosiers with a double-double, scoring 16 points and adding 11 rebounds.\n"I really enjoyed watching our kids' intensity," Legette-Jack said. "We've been beating each other up in practice for the last five weeks, and it was neat to get out there and see what we're made of."\nGetting the first game under the belt was a relief, Thomas said.\n"I felt like the incoming players would kind of be hesitant coming out here, but they definitely weren't," Thomas said. "They were out there ready to shoot."\nThe Hoosiers got off to a rocky start in the opening minutes, and the Greyhounds capitalized off the Hoosiers' miscues. Indianapolis played IU tough in the first four minutes and managed to tie the game 7-7 after senior guard Mandy Geryak hit a pair of free throws for Indianapolis. IU took the lead for good on a layup from freshman Jamie Braun, and the Hoosiers never looked back. Braun finished with 12 points, the second highest total on the team.\n"During warmups, I was a little jumpy because I was shooting the ball a little hard," she said. "But after I got into the flow of the game, I felt comfortable."\nUp 22-16 with just more than six minutes to go in the first half, the Hoosiers opened up their lead and finished the half on an 18-4 run to extend their lead to 40-20.\nIU then started off the second half with a 12-3 run, scoring most of its points in transition. After their second-half run, the Hoosiers' lead was never less than 23 points for the rest of the game.\nThroughout the night, Legette-Jack subbed in most of the team's bench to give everyone at least some real-game experience.\n"Sometimes you're going to have to learn the system, get put in the fight and see if you slip or how well you play in the fire," Legette-Jack said. "We're all young, so you're going to find those situations a lot because it is what it is."\nWhile IU shot 45 percent from the field and 43 percent from beyond the arc, the Greyhounds managed to shoot only 22 percent and 6 percent, respectively.\n"We felt like we really got some good shots. Shots that we can hit on any given night just didn't go down," Indianapolis coach Teri Moren said. "If they would have gone down, it would have been a different game. I don't know if we would have been on the winning side of it, but we certainly could have kept it a little closer than what the score indicated."\nThough the Hoosiers won the game handily, Legette-Jack said there's plenty of room for improvement. In order for the team to be successful, the Hoosiers need to disrupt shots and disturb opportunities on the defensive side of the ball without getting into foul trouble, she said. Legette-Jack said IU did a fine job demonstrating its defensive skills and its lack of fear Friday night. \n"We respect all and we fear none," Legette-Jack said. "I look in these kids' eyes and I see complete passion. I have not had a team that has yearned and wanted it as much as a head coach, but this team does." \nThe Hoosiers will play their final exhibition game tonight when they host Northern Kentucky at Branch-McCracken Court. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.