Women’s basketball wins exhibition game

It was an unusual start to the season with four first-year players starting and a technical foul call before the tip, but Indiana still opened its 2013-14 season with a 79-55 exhibition victory over Georgetown College (Kentucky).

Sophomore Kaila Hulls scored 13 points and added 12 rebounds in her first college game to lead IU.

It was her first competitive game in two and a half years.

“It’s really surreal to even talk about,” Hulls said. “It felt good to be out there.”
IU Coach Curt Miller said 2011 seems like a long time ago when considering the last time Hulls was in a competitive game.

“Really proud of her perseverance and hard work that she’s put in to be at this point,” Miller said. “Really happy for her.”

The Hoosiers shot 29-82 (35.4 percent) from the field as a team.

Miller chose to start four first-year players, who ended up having a big impact on the game.

Freshman, redshirts and transfers scored 62 of the team’s 79 points.

“I was really pleased,” he said. “A significant percentage of points came from our first-year players. It bodes well.”

Freshman Taylor Agler contributed 10 points and nine assists in her first game as a Hoosier.

“It was a whole team effort on that and I just went out there with a lot of energy because it was my first college game ever,” she said.

Freshman Larryn Brooks also added 13 points.

The Hoosiers shot the ball poorly in the second half despite increasing their lead.
After shooting 40.5% in the first half, the team shot 30% in the second half.

“We did not shoot the ball overall well against their matchup zone,” Miller said. “We were not fully prepared to attack that in a variety of ways.”

Despite the poor shooting, he was encouraged by the team’s rebounding.

“We did compete on the boards,” Miller said. “In the second half, we had 18 offensive rebounds when we weren’t shooting the ball well.”

The technical foul that was called at the beginning of the game was because senior Tabitha Gerardot was not listed in the official book.

Gerardot, a transfer from Valparaiso, scored eight points and added six rebounds.
“I think that everybody has high hopes, and like we’ve said over and over again, we want to exceed expectations,” Gerardot said.

Lizza Jones had 13 points for Georgetown College, which finished the game shooting 37.3 percent from the field.

The Hoosiers will open up the regular season against Oakland at home on Nov. 9.

Follow reporter Stuart Jackson on Twitter @Stuart_Jackson1.