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Indiana University Women’s Basketball hosts Minnesota
The 5th ranked Indiana University Women’s Basketball Hosts Minnesota at 7pm inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The Hoosiers are coming off a loss at 6th ranked at Michigan Monday Night 65-50. The Hoosiers are 14-3 and 6-1 in the Big Ten. Graduate Guard Nicole Cardaño-Hillary paced the team with 16 points, a career-high eight steals and five rebounds. Her eight steals tied for fourth-most in a single game in school history. Indiana remained in the top 10 in both national polls in Week 13. They came in at 5 in the Associated Press Top 25 and. 6 in the USA Today/WBCA coaches top 25. Their streak in the AP Top 25 stretches to 50 consecutive weeks and 38 consecutive weeks in the coach’s poll. Defense continues to be the name of the game for the Hoosiers, who hold teams to 58.2 points per game this season, which rank second in the Big Ten. No opponent has scored 70 or more points this season and IU has dfeated three Big Ten foes by 20 points or more. Head Coach Teri Moren is 162-83 in her 9th season and 361-213 in 19 seasons’ overall.
Minnesota is fresh off a border rivalry win over Wisconsin on Sunday, 57-55. Junior Guard Sara Scalia leads the way with 16.1 points per game along with graduate student guard Deja Winters’s 11.5 points per game. Redshirt junior forward Kadiatou Sissoko leads on the glass with 5.6 boards per game. The Gophers average 69.0 points per game and shoot 40.9 percent as a team. The Golden Gophers are 10-12 and 3-7 in the Big Ten. The Golden Gophers are coached by Lindsay Whalen who is 55-41 in her 4th season at her alma mater. Whalen scored 2,285 points from 2000-04 and played in the WNBA for the Connecticut Sun, Minnesota Lynx from 2004-2018 and 4 WNBA Titles.
Minnesota Leads the Series 37-34. In the recent series, IU has won four-consecutive games against the Golden Gophers, including the only meeting last season. It has also won seven of the last eight, dating back to the 2015-16 season.
Indiana University Football signs J’Mari Monette and Brandon Sorsby for 2022
Indiana has landed a commitment and signing from 2022 defensive tackle J’Mari Monette, The Alexandria (LA) lineman made it official on Wednesday. Monette had offers from Missouri, Kansas, SMU, Texas, Mississippi State, Baylor, Tulane, Houston and Memphis. As a senior, Monette was named to the district 2-5A All-District Team. He played both defensive tackle and defensive end at Alexandria. Monette visited Indiana back in December.
Lake Dallas Texas quarterback Brendan Sorsby officially signed on the first day of the late signing period. Sorsby committed to Indiana on January 23 following an official visit to Bloomington that weekend. He had offers from Army, Navy, Western Carolina, Lamar and more. Wisconsin and Rice were some additional schools that had interest in him. Sorsby is the lone quarterback commit in the 2022 class as a high school prospect.
The Hoosiers signed 32 players in total for the 2022 class, including 10 transfers. The Hoosiers signed 17 defensive players and 15 offensive players. Indiana added seven defensive linemen, six linebackers, and four defensive linemen on defense, and four running backs, four wide receivers, three offensive lineman, two quarterbacks, and two tight ends on offense. Players signed from 12 different states, including nine from Florida, six from Ohio, three from Indiana and Texas, two each from Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana, and one each from Arkansas, California, Kentucky, New Jersey, and North Carolina.
High School sports postponed Thursday due to weather
Due to the expected winter storm, the second-round games planned for Last Night at the Class 3A Northview and 1A Clay City girls’ basketball sectionals have been pushed back to Friday. Edgewood’s opener vs. South Vermillion will still take place at 7:30pm following Northview and Brown County.
The semifinals will now take place on Saturday, Brownstown Central won Tuesday’s opener over Owen Valley, 46-30 and will play West Vigo at 6, with the Edgewood/South Vermillion and Northview/Brown County winners meeting after. The finals will be Tuesday at 7pm.
Clay City will follow a similar schedule. Lighthouse Christian and North Central will play at 6pm. followed by Eminence and White River Valley. Clay City upset Shakamak, 46-39, on Tuesday and will take on Bloomfield in the first of two semifinals still scheduled for Saturday.
All three area boys’ games for Tonight are also called off, Bloomington North at Edgewood, Scottsburg at Bloomington South and White River Valley at Eastern Greene. The North-Edgewood game will be played February 22nd. The South game has been moved to Tuesday, February 8. The T-Birds will host the Wolverines on Feb. 16.
Also postponed are the Columbus North girls swimming sectional preliminaries, pushed from Thursday to Saturday at 1pm, with the finals now Monday at 5:30pm
Indiana Diver Kirsten Hayden named Big Ten Diver of the Week
For the second time in three weeks, Indiana senior diver Kristen Hayden was named the Big Ten Diver of the Week on Wednesday the conference office announced. In Indiana swimming and diving’s win over Evansville on January 28. Hayden won the 1-meter and 3-meter dive competitions, set career bests in each event and broke a program record in the 3M.
The honor is Hayden’s second Big Ten weekly award in her career; she also earned it two weeks ago following her two-win performance against No. 15 Louisville. Indiana women’s divers have won each of the last three weekly awards as sophomore Tarrin Gilliand captured the honor last cycle. Between its men’s and women’s teams, nine Indiana student-athletes have collected 16 such awards over seven weeks of eligibility this season. Hayden started her Saturday by breaking IU’s dual meet record in the 3-meter dive with a 399.38, shattering the previous mark set by Christina Loukas in 2006 (373.95). Five of Hayden’s six dives scored better than 65.00 points, including a 72.00 on a back 2 ½ somersault pike for her third attempt and a 76.73 on a forward 3 ½ somersault pike on dive No. 5. She executed a forward 2 ½ somersault, 1 twist pike to score a 69.75 and close out the 3M.
Later, Hayden scored a 335.33 to win the 1-meter dive by 21.68 points. Her first dive, a forward 2 ½ somersault pike, set the tone, scoring a 60.45. Each of her next five dives earned 50 points or better. Hayden and the Indiana women’s swimming and diving team kick off postseason action in two weeks at the Big Ten Championships, set for February 16-19 in Madison, Wisconsin.
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