IU women defeated at Illinois

After trailing by 14 at halftime, the IU women’s basketball team clawed to within six during the second half at Illinois Saturday before falling 73-60.

“We never went away,” IU Coach Curt Miller said. “We battled. We know we aren’t as talented as most of the teams in this league.

“For us to be on the road and competing against a team that at the beginning of the year I predicted to come in third in the league because of their talent, I thought we gave them everything that they wanted. We really made them work all the way to the buzzer.”

Illinois jumped on the Hoosiers early, deviating from their normal game plan and using a “buzz” defense instead of its normal man-to-man defense.

That defense forced IU into six turnovers and 1-of-4 shooting, giving Illinois a 13-3 advantage less than five minutes into the game.

“I think they wanted to set the tone that they were going to be aggressive with us early,” Miller said. “In the game plan, they went out of rhythm. We had to make the adjustment quickly.”

Miller was not pleased with his team’s initial response to the “buzz,” saying his team was “hesitant” and played “a little bit on our heels.”

However, his team managed to make the adjustment, fighting back to a 25-19 margin with 8:36 left in the first half thanks to a 3-pointer from senior guard Jasmine McGhee.

McGhee carried the Hoosiers with a team-high 25 points, scoring 16 during the first half. She scored 26 points in the win against Purdue Wednesday, making this her best week offensively.

Despite McGhee’s first-half heroics, the Hoosiers still found themselves trailing 42-28 at the break, thanks to 14 first-half points from Illinois senior forward Karisma Penn. She finished with 25 points of her own.

IU made its biggest adjustment coming out of halftime, as the Hoosiers opened the second half on a 10-2 run, capped by a layup from senior forward Linda Rubene to cut the Illini lead to 44-38 with 15:44 to go.

Rubene scored 12 points and pulled down a game-high seven rebounds in 35 minutes.

McGhee answered two Penn State free throws with a bucket to bring the Hoosiers within 46-40 with 15:02 to go, but it was the closest the Hoosiers came.

In the second half, the Hoosiers shot 51.9 percent, just the fifth time this season IU has shot above 50 percent in a half. Illinois shot 41.4 percent in that half.

“I thought we were very good all night long, getting good shots,” Miller said. “We did a very nice job against the ‘buzz.’”

Illinois entered the game as the Big Ten’s leader in steals, but turnovers were a factor for both sides.

IU tied its season high with 25 turnovers, leading to 24 Illinois points from turnovers. But Illinois had 14 turnovers of its own, leading to 20 points for the Hoosiers.

“A statistic that they dominate night in and night out, they didn’t dominate tonight,” Miller said.

Senior forward Aulani Sinclair added 10 points, five rebounds, two assists and three steals in 40 minutes, She scored eight of her 10 points in the second half.

Overall, Miller remained very pleased with his team’s effort in a tough road game.

“Honestly, I’m really proud of our kids for competing and battling,” Miller said. “It was a good game.”