Women’s basketball beats Belmont, looks to Miami

The IU women’s basketball team (2-1) defeated Belmont in Nashville, Tenn. on Friday, 63-52.

Leading the way for the Hoosiers were junior forward Aulani Sinclair with 12 points, senior guard Alisha Goodwin with 11 and freshman center Quaneisha McCurty with 10. All three came off the bench to give IU a 44-14 advantage in points from reserves.

IU Coach Felisha Legette-Jack said she was impressed by her Hoosiers’ defense.

“I thought that Georgie Jones did a great job of really setting the tone defensively,” she said. “I thought Candyce Ussery came in and did some fun things off the ball as well as on the ball. I thought that the ball pressure is finally getting better, probably a long way to go, but it’s great to see they’ve got hot hands and lateral quickness.”

Sinclair recorded a perfect night of shooting, going 4-of-4 from the field, including two from behind the arc and 2-for-2 from the free throw line.

McCurty posted her first career double-double by adding a game-high 16 rebounds to her 10 points. She also contributed defensively, adding two steals and two blocks.

IU was up by as much as 15 points until 11:41 remaining in the second half, when Belmont charged back. The Bruins went on a 12-2 run to shorten the lead to five and eventually got within three with 4:30 remaining. The Hoosiers responded by finishing the game on a 14-4 run of their own to close out the Bruins for good.

A strength in IU’s win was its defense and rebounding. The Hoosiers won for the third straight game, 55-41. They kept the Bruins to just 28.3 percent shooting and stole the ball 12 times.

IU will next turn its attention to Miami University. The Hoosiers will travel to play the RedHawks at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Oxford, Ohio.

Miami is coming off an 81-56 victory against Massachusetts to improve its season record to 2-1. In their previous games, theRedHawks beat Marshall and lost to Temple, both of which were on the road.

IU will be looking to stop Miami’s junior guard, Courtney Osborn. She is the RedHawks’ leading scorer and playmaker so far this season, averaging 16.7 points and five assists per contest. Both of those numbers are higher than any Hoosier’s average this year. Last year, Osborn torched IU for 26 points and three assists, including four three pointers.

IU will be looking to McCurty, coming off her double-double, to use her decisive height advantage again. At 6 feet 6 inches, she is at least five inches taller than any of Miami’s starters.

“She’s a special kid that’s going to continue to get better,” Legette-Jack said of McCurty. “There’s a lot more in her that we know we can pull out of her. Once this kid gets stronger, I think she’s going to be a force to be reckoned with.”