IU starts, finishes strong against the Bearcats

IU shot lights-out during the first half of their 64-57 win against the Cincinnati Bearcats, hitting more than 50 percent of their shots from the floor. However, the second half displayed a much different and lackluster IU team.

Until the last two minutes, that is.  

The Hoosiers dominated the first half, on both the scoreboard and the floor, heading to the locker room with a 13-point lead. The Bearcats were consistent defensively, but went through long shooting droughts, ending the first half shooting just more than 30 percent.

The game essentially seemed to be over at the beginning of the second half, with the Hoosiers jumping ahead to a 16-point lead. However, the Bearcats made some serious changes in the locker room at halftime and started to find their offense.  

The Hoosiers continued shooting well in the second half, but played without the hustle and motivation that guided them in the first half, and after building a large lead, turnovers gave the Bearcats the chance to hack away at the deficit.

The Hoosiers, however, did not respond immediately to the scoring, and allowed the Bearcats to go on a 10-0 run. Once the Bearcats tied the game at 56, senior guard Jamie Braun started to take control of the game. Braun’s leadership, and a few key shots help turn the game around for the Hoosiers.  

One of the key shots came from an unexpected Hoosier, IU coach Felisha Legette-Jack said.  

“They held our go-to players down and someone no one thought about came by and hit that big time three to give us that lead,” Legette-Jack said. “And that was Andrea McGuirt.”

McGuirt’s shot gave the Hoosiers the lead with just under two minutes left in the game. The 3-pointer, along with a Braun steal on the next play, helped the Hoosiers end the comeback attempt by the Bearcats.

McGuirt, a guard, played down the importance of her nailing the shot.  

“That was all my teammates. I didn’t do anything but hit the open shot; they did all the work,” McGuirt said.  

Although a junior, McGuirt doesn’t typically see large amounts of playing time, but in what is becoming a theme for this Hoosier basketball team, she stepped up her game when the team needed it.  

“Jori wasn’t ready to go,” Legette-Jack said. “We just said, ‘Andrea, you step up,’ and she stepped up. And what a great game she had.”

However, Cincinnati did not have any specific plays to boast about at the end of the game, as their team played inconsistently in the first half.  

“I think in the first half we came out and we were a little rattled,” Cincinnati coach Jamelle Elliott said. “We played too fast, weren’t in control of the game and Indiana did a good job of pressuring us and taking us out of what we were trying to run on offense.”

However, Elliott acknowledged that the game was comprised of numerous runs by both teams, and the Hoosiers made their run to end the game.  

Despite the victory for the Hoosiers, they still had ball control problems, turning it over 20 times. They also only got to the free-throw line two times in the first half. The Hoosiers finished with 11 attempts, but many of those were desperation fouls by the Bearcats in the final seconds.  

But Legette-Jack said the Hoosiers do not plan on focusing on their mistakes against the Bearcats.  

“We’re going to improve on our strengths. I think our defense is going to continue to get better, and we’re are going to enjoy this day off tomorrow,” she said. “We’ve got some problems with these turnovers, and we’re going to continue to address them, but we’re not going to focus on them. We’re going to focus on our strengths, and hopefully that should be enough.”