IU enters final weekend of regular season

Every year around late February, signs of spring appear around Bloomington. The Big Ten Tournament is one of these signs for the IU women’s basketball team. The Hoosiers (16-11, 5-9 Big Ten) will begin the home stretch of their regular season tonight when they take on Northwestern (8-20, 2-13 Big Ten) at 7 p.m. at Assembly Hall. \nThe game against the Wildcats, coupled with Sunday’s road game against Penn State, are the final two games before the conference tournament next week.\n“We need to go out there and keep playing our game,” freshman guard Jamie Braun said. “We have to run our defense right and keep scoring. We shouldn’t prepare any other way than we have this year.”\nThe defense has been a focal point for the Hoosiers all year, and that was particularly evident during last Sunday’s game against Illinois. In the first half the Hoosiers allowed the llini to shoot 50 percent from the field and trailed 42-37 going into the half. After some adjustments by IU coach Felisha Legette-Jack, it was a different story. The Illini came out in the second half shooting only 20 percent and the Hoosiers took over the game, winning 81-68.\n“We really did a great job defensively,” Legette-Jack said. “I feel good about our defense finally. It’s been about three weeks since I could honestly say that. I’m really grateful that it’s coming together at this point of the season.”\nAgainst Northwestern the Hoosiers will face a team that is also starting to play well late in the season. \nThe Wildcats lost 18 games in a row, including their first 12 Big Ten games, this season before winning two of their last three games. They beat Penn State and Michigan and took Michigan State, which was ranked No. 24 at the time, down to the final minute on the road before losing 68-63.\n“They’ll definitely come out hard as well,” Braun said of Northwestern. “It’s the end of their season as well.”\nThe Hoosiers’ defense will need to cool down a Wildcats offense that has been hot the last three games, shooting more than 40 percent in each game. In the second half of the loss in East Lansing, Mich., the Wildcats shot 64 percent from the field, including 80 percent from behind the three-point line.\n“We’ve been looking at their defensive and offensive sets and try to counteract,” sophomore forward Kim Roberson said. “They’re a very good team, we can’t play them lightly. We have to go out and play our game\nAt the game, the Hoosiers will also celebrate senior night. They will honor guard Leah Enterline, center Sarah McKay and forward Carrie Smith. \n“Of course that’s in the back of our minds,” Roberson said. “But we’re going to take it like any other game. That stuff is great to do, but we need to focus on the game.”