No. 24 IU women’s basketball takes on McKendree University in its only exhibition game of 2019. This will be the first match on record between these teams.
Two of the program’s top veterans, junior guards Bendu Yeaney and Jaelynn Penn, are battling injuries and slowly recovering. Yaney will be unavailable, and Penn’s chances of playing appear unclear for this opening game.
Despite these missing role players, IU head coach Teri Moren is confident about her roster’s versatility.
“I like where we are with our pieces and the fact that we can shift them around a bit gives us a luxury that we didn’t have a year ago,” Moren said.
Yeaney continues to recover from a torn Achilles that she suffered a season ago. She is currently playing 5-on-5 half-court during practices and will upgrade to full court play in the near future.
Moren expects to see Yeaney in the latter half of December or beginning of January.
Penn, who battled an injured ankle for most of the 2018-19 season, is dealing with plantar fasciitis, and her status is up in the air for Sunday.
The Hoosiers are undefeated in opening exhibition games going back more than 20 years. Their last opening exhibition match resulted in a 78-52 win against Northwood University.
This lone exhibition game will give IU the chance to see how the veterans gel with the program’s freshman class before the season opener on Nov. 7 against Mount St. Mary’s University.
“I like how this group is really together; they’re on the same page,” Moren said. “We have to be tougher, we have to be grittier and everything in practice has to translate into games as well.”
