IU wins on road against Fighting Irish; team off to 7-1 start

There's an old adage that says defense wins championships. Though it hasn't secured a championship yet, the IU women's basketball team used defense to secure its seventh victory of the season.\nUp by as many as six points and down by as many as eight, the Hoosiers took advantage of a late 6-0 run to wrap up their win against Notre Dame on Sunday in South Bend.\n"Our team played exceptional basketball today," IU coach Felisha Legette-Jack said in a statement. "We beat a very good team. I have a lot of respect for coach (Muffet) McGraw and what she has done here. Notre Dame has great fans, and hopefully we can grow the IU fan base into something similar."\nThe Hoosiers (7-1) survived their second close contest in a row as they beat the Irish (4-3) 54-51 in front of a nearly sold out crowd at Notre Dame's Joyce Center.\nWith 4:11 to play and the Hoosiers down 51-48, IU converted the final three baskets of the game, with the final shot coming from junior guard Nikki Smith with only 35.5 seconds remaining. Smith led the Hoosiers with 18 points on the day and scored 12 points in the second half.\n"The coaches and the team believe in what I can do, and I gain confidence from that," Smith said in a statement. "I just continue to feed off of that."\nAfter a three-point miss by junior guard Charel Allen of the Irish, senior center Sarah McKay picked up a loose ball to seal the victory for IU. Sophomore guard Kim Roberson also paced the Hoosiers with 12 points and took a charge to set up Smith's final basket.\nBoth teams struggled from the field as IU shot 42 percent in the game. Notre Dame didn't fare well either, managing to sink only 34 percent of its shots.\nOnce again, IU held its opponent to a low percentage in the first half as the Irish only made 22 percent of their field goals. The Hoosiers have held their opponents to less than 40 percent field-goal shooting in six of their last eight games.\nBoth Legette-Jack and senior guard Leah Enterline said playing good defense early on allowed the Hoosiers to create offense. While the Hoosiers played well defensively and held the Irish to a low field-goal percentage, Notre Dame dominated in rebounds with 41 to IU's 27.\n"We went about what we wanted to do," Legette-Jack said in a statement. "We knew they were an incredible rebounding team. Although Notre Dame dominated the boards, we got the ones that mattered."\nPrior to the game, IU received 15 votes for the top 25 in the ESPN/USA Today poll and 14 votes in the AP poll after its victory against Evansville on Thursday and has been gaining more national recognition in recent weeks. Legette-Jack attributes the team's recent success to its confidence.\n"Our players are always mentally tough," Legette-Jack said in a statement. "We just go out and play basketball. Our team understands that mistakes will be made, but you can't worry about what you can't control."\nAfter completing their first contest of a three-game road trip, the Hoosiers travel to Bowling Green University on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. tip-off.