Hoosiers welcome Badgers, former coach Bennett

When IU coach Felisha Legette-Jack looks across at the opposite bench in tonight’s game against Wisconsin, she is likely to get a glimpse of former Hoosiers coach Kathi Bennett.

Bennett coached at IU from 2000 to 2005. She finished her career at IU with a 72-74 record and in 2002 her No. 5-ranked Hoosiers became the lowest seeded team to win the Big Ten Tournament. Bennett is now in her first season as an assistant coach for the Badgers.

Legette-Jack said she feels fortunate for the opportunity to coach at IU because of the departure of Bennett, adding she is glad to have some of Bennett’s former players.

“I’m grateful she decided to move on because it allowed me to come here and lead these young ladies,” she said. “Some of them she brought here, in Kim (Roberson) and Whitney Thomas, and for that I’m certainly grateful.”

As for senior forward Thomas, she is happy Bennett gave her the privilege to play at IU, but knows there is a bigger task at hand tonight.

“I respect Coach Bennett. She gave me the opportunity to come here and allowed me to have the experience I’ve had, but at the same time we are looking to win regardless who’s on the other side,” Thomas said. “We all want to win and that’s what we’re going to focus on.”

The Hoosiers (11-3, 4-1) are coming off of a road win against Penn State, where for the third time this season all five starters have scored in double figures. The same players are also averaging double figures at this point in the season.

Sophomore guard Jori Davis, who is averaging 10.1 points per game, said the balanced scoring attack is an important asset to possess.

“I think it’s a good attribute to the team because our opponents can’t just stop one person,” she said. “We have three seniors that can score 20 points a night if they want, but since we have so many scorers, it’s even distribution among the team.”

Legette-Jack credits the play of some of her non-starters, sophomore guards Andrea McGuirt, Whitney Lindsay and freshman forward Danilsa Andujar, with the success of her starters.

“I think what made us great is our reserve people stepped up and allowed our starters to take a breath and have a seat to analyze the game from the bench for a little bit,” she said. “It’s great to see all five starters doing their thing. It’s really cool that it’s hard to defend us, but it’s a bigger blessing for the reserves to step up and do what they did.”

After long road trips to Minnesota and Penn State, Davis is excited to be playing at home and defending Assembly Hall, where her team has only lost one game this season.

“It’s important that we protect home court,” Davis said. “Coach (Marc) Wilson told us we have to win every game at home, which will help get us to 20 wins and try to steal some on the road. We definitely want to protect home court.”