Less than five minutes into Sunday afternoon’s matchup against Wisconsin, sophomore forward Amanda Cahill committed her second foul of the game, sending her to the bench and bringing in junior forward Lyndsey Leikem.
Assembly Hall was quiet for the first time since January’s close games against Michigan and Michigan State. IU was outscored in the second quarter and faced a five-point deficit at halftime, 29-24.
Playing a team that had beaten IU in their Big Ten opener, the Hoosiers appeared to be struggling with the Badgers yet again. IU failed to corrall an offensive rebound in the first half, as well as shooting just 14 percent in the second quarter after zero first-half offensive rebounds and a second quarter in which they made only 14 percent of their shots.
IU came out of halftime with a different mentality, outscoring Wisconsin 17-8 in the third and cruising to its 13th consecutive win at home, 67-57.
“It was a grind-it-out kind of Sunday for us,” IU Coach Teri Moren said. “I wish we would have handled ourselves a little bit better, especially in that second quarter when they outscored us 13-7.”
In Cahill’s absence, Moren was forced to rotate in players such as Leikem and freshman forward Kym Royster in the four and five spots of the lineup, something that normally does not occur until the second quarter.
Both forwards played a combined 16 minutes in the first half, but only three in the second half, as Cahill — who has recorded eight double-doubles this season — solidified her position in the post and recorded 12 points and seven rebounds.
“The good thing is that we’ve been in that situation before,” Moren said about Cahill’s foul trouble. “When teams play a zone, we’re much better when she is on offense. She’s such a threat on the inside, so it doesn’t bode well when she gets into foul trouble.”
That zone defense is what gave the Hoosiers such a difficult time in offensive scoring, Moren said. The Wisconsin defense collapsed around sophomore guard Tyra Buss, closing passing lanes and creating turnovers or difficult shot opportunities.
At halftime, Moren and the coaching staff told the players to be more aggressive and push the pace on offense.
“At the beginning of the game, we kind of played like we did when we played against them at their place,” Buss said. “We didn’t do very well there. The majority of Coach’s halftime speech was pushing the pace on offense.”
Buss translated Moren’s talk to the floor immediately. She scored IU’s first eight points in less than two minutes to bring IU within two points of the lead.
Once the Hoosiers took the lead with 2:41 remaining in the third quarter, they never gave it back.
The change in offense resulted in a change on defense, as senior Wisconsin guard Nicole Bauman, who scored 24 points in the previous matchup, was held scoreless in the second half after posting eight first-half points.
Senior guard Dakota Whyte, who Moren said the Hoosiers had no answer for in the first half, shot just 3-for-7 in the second half and committed three fouls.
Moren said she thought junior guard Alexis Gassion did a tremendous job defending Bauman most of the game.
“She chased her out and our post coverage was good. That’s good team defense.”
With the win, IU moves on to its final four regular season games with a conference record of 9-5. IU plays Minnesota on Thursday, which sits a half-game ahead of IU for third place in the Big Ten.
“It’s important as a staff and for me as a coach that I managed these guys and demand excellence,” Moren said. “There’s a lot of basketball left. A lot of areas to continue to grow and to learn and to improve and to get better, but we’re going to get some rest. We’re gonna have to show up and play much better against Minnesota.”
