Surprising Hoosiers invade Carver

IOWA CITY — Biggest surprise in the Big Ten? There's no debate.

It's Indiana.

The Hoosiers (18-9 overall, 10-5 Big Ten) have wrapped up their first winning season in league play since 2009. They stand in a third-place tie, and their five-game league winning streak is their longest in 33 years.

'Is there momentum? Sure. Is there confidence? Absolutely,' second-year coach Teri Moren said after the Hoosiers beat Minnesota on Thursday. 'But we have to be able to shoot the ball better in someone else's gym.'

Sunday, 'someone else's gym' is Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Iowa (16-11, 6-9) hosts the Hoosiers with a 2 p.m. tipoff.

It's the second game of three in which the Hawkeyes are facing a team that defeated them earlier this season. Iowa defeated Purdue, 63-55, Thursday.

In the teams' first meeting, in Bloomington on Feb. 4, Indiana rallied from a 17-point deficit to win, 79-74, scoring 56 points in the second half.

'It feels like with a lot of teams right now, we owe them,' said Iowa co-captain Ally Disterhoft.

The Hawkeyes danced and the mood was light after the Purdue win, but there's still a lot of work to be done. It would take three more wins to get to 9-9 in the Big Ten, a mark which many feel is necessary for NCAA consideration.

Whitney Jennings, a native of Logansport, Ind., scored a career-high 22 points in the Hawkeyes' previous encounter with IU.

Though the state of Indiana has the reputation as a basketball hotbed, the Hoosiers' women's program has generally been a second-division Big Ten program. After an 11-7 Big Ten record in 2009, Indiana had compiled league marks of 7-11, 3-13, 1-15, 2-14, 5-11 and 4-14 before this year's breakthrough, one which ought to vault Moren to heavy Big Ten coach-of-the-year consideration.

Sophomore guard Tyra Buss averages 19.1 points per game, followed by Amanda Cahill (14.3).

Sunday is the annual Pink Game at Carver. It's also Girl Scout Day and Linn County Day.

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com