Florida State Squeaks by Hoosiers

By Josh Olmsted: SPM IND Writer
Posted Saturday, December 1, 2007

BLOOMINGTON, IND – Junior guard Marsha Freshour knew she would be nervous playing near her home town of Nashville, IN with her family and friends in attendance. But when she stepped to the free-throw line with 28 seconds to go in the game and the Florida State Seminoles clinging to a two-point lead, she appeared to be the calmest person in the building.

Freshour iced the game for the Seminoles last night, knocking down both of her free throw attempts and finishing with a game-high 21 points en route to an 85-78 win over the Indiana Hoosiers in the inaugural Big Ten–ACC Challenge.

“I thought I’d be alright after tipoff. It took me a couple of minutes to calm down. Once we really got going it definitely helped, and I was able to push back the fact that all my family is here and playing Indiana in Assembly Hall. One of my roles on this team is being a good free throw shooter -- somebody they can count on at the end of the game,” Freshour said afterwards.

IU took a four-point lead into halftime despite being without the services of junior guard Kim Roberson. Roberson has taken an indefinite leave of absence from the team for personal reasons. She was expected to be an important part of the Hoosier’s lineup this season, and started three of the team’s first six games. Her departure meant more time for the Hoosiers' six freshmen.

Of those freshmen, guard Haylie Linn, made the most of her extra minutes by leading IU in scoring along with sophomore guard Jamie Braun, who had 16 points while shooting a perfect 5-5 from the field.

Over 1,300 fans came out to see the Hoosiers take on the No. 21/22 Seminoles and they were treated to a close game throughout. Neither team led by more than nine points, and although the Hoosiers couldn’t pull off the upset victory, head coach Felisha Legette-Jack was encouraged by her team’s performance, commending their effort afterwards.

“This is the way Indiana women’s basketball is going to be for a very long time. We went out, we competed, we played hard, we didn’t back down, and we didn’t look at our mistakes and drop our heads. We made a mistake and we kept playing. I’m very proud of our young team. We’re getting better and we’re getting older every single day, every single practice, and every single game. We understand that this is a loss, but it’s also a growth and we’re going to learn our lessons through this,” she said.

In a whistle-laden game that had both teams frustrated, the Seminoles dominated the Hoosiers at the line, scoring 24 of their points at the charity stripe compared to the Hoosiers 10. In total the game included 49 fouls, 30 of which went against IU. Still, the Hoosiers were able to outrebound the Seminoles 40-35 and lead for the majority of the game before coming up just short.

Although the Hoosiers fell to 4-3, Florida State head coach Sue Semrau sees a bright future for the team. After the game, Semrau had this to say about the Hoosiers' slow start:

“They’re playing tough teams and I think that speaks well for what Felisha is doing with the program. She wants to play teams that have established themselves, and I think what she’s doing is preparing herself for conference play and she’s going to get it done.”

The Hoosiers travel to Ohio to take on the Dayton Flyers on December 5th at 5:15pm. Florida State is now 6-1 and travel to Rochester, Michigan to take on the Oakland Golden Grizzlies on December 2nd.