Braun powers Hoosiers past Lady Lions

Jamie Braun would not let the IU women’s basketball team lose on her senior day.
The lone senior’s double-double ensured it didn’t happen.

Braun scored 23 points and pulled down 11 rebounds as the Hoosiers (14-15, 7-11) held off a late rally to beat Penn State 77-68 in their final home game of the season.

“This was truly a team win,” IU coach Felisha Legette-Jack said. “Everybody contributed in some shape or form. On this particular night, when we stood for Jamie Braun, we came together, and we became something significant.”

That unity meant more to Braun than her individual performance in her final game in Assembly Hall.

“It feels great since we won,” she said. “That’s all I wanted. I just wanted a victory. It felt good, but it all comes down to our team and stuck together and played well.”

Junior forward Hope Elam added 16 points, and junior guard Jori Davis scored 12 to eclipse 1,000 career points in her career at IU.

Elam, Braun’s roommate, was glad the Hoosiers won.

“Playing with Jamie Braun has been great,” she said. “Getting this win for our lone senior and for my roommate was big for us.”

In addition to honoring seniors Braun and manager Kevin Kasten, IU also celebrated National Girls and Women in Sports Day. The IU volleyball and field hockey teams attended the game and were honored at midcourt at halftime.

IU played perhaps its best first half of the season, holding the Lady Lions (16-12, 8-10) to just 23.1 percent from the field.

The Hoosiers also limited Penn State guard Tyra Grant, who entered the game as the second-leading scorer in the Big Ten, to just four points in the opening half.

“We just felt like we wanted their go-to players to beat us a different way,”

Legette-Jack said. “We knew that Tyra can shoot the ball, but we tried to make her drive the ball to her right side ... and that frustrated her a little bit.”

Down 7-2 early in the half, IU rallied back with scores by Braun and junior guard Andrea McGuirt and never looked back, shooting a 42.9 field goal percentage and an identical clip from 3-point range to take a 37-22 lead into the locker room.

The Hoosiers showed no signs of slowing down early in the second half, jumping out to a 20-point lead in the first three minutes.

IU led by as many as 23 points in the first nine minutes of the second half, but Penn State did not give up.

Down 61-38, the Lady Lions staged a 12-2 run which Grant capped with a 3-pointer with 7:39 remaining.

The Hoosiers scored four more points before allowing Penn State to go on another run that put the Lady Lions within single digits with just over five minutes to play.

Guard Alex Bentley hit a jumper to put the Lady Lions within seven, but Braun responded with a layup and drew a foul. Her free throw gave IU a 10-point lead with 3:50 to play.

Penn State made one final effort, scoring five straight points to put the score at 70-65 with under two minutes remaining.

However, the Hoosiers got aggressive on the boards and forced the Lady Lions into fouling, sealing the victory and sending Braun out of Assembly Hall with a bang.

IU now looks to the Big Ten Tournament, which begins Thursday at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The Hoosiers will play Illinois in the first round.

Legette-Jack said it was important to head into the conference tournament on a high note.

“In the Big Ten right now, we have every single team with six or more (conference) wins,” she said. “That says that the Big Ten is alive and well, and the fight is on.”