Lady Recruit Jackson in all star game

[GrandGreen]

Indiana all-stars

Banks' 21 points propel Indiana

Kentucky All-Stars commit 30 turnovers in their 13-point loss to the Hoosiers.

By Kristen Leigh Porter

kristen.leigh.porter@indystar.com

June 20, 2004

OWENSBORO, Ky. -- During a shootaround practice Saturday before the Indiana All-Stars' 66-53 win over the Kentucky All-Stars, Janese Banks dribbled a basketball in one hand and held her Walkman in the other. She was listening to R&B artist Usher's latest, "Confessions."

"It calmed me down," the former Ben Davis High School standout said. "Going into this game I wasn't nervous, but I just wanted to make sure that I was calm, that I was focused."

A focused Banks turned in a game-high 21 points and 11 rebounds in Saturday night's victory. She also had two assists, two blocks and two steals in 29 minutes in the Indiana win.

Rebekah Parker (Tippecanoe Valley) contributed 11 points and Miss Basketball Jaclyn Leininger (Warsaw) added eight points.

"It is the All-Star game and it's good to have individual performances, but I'm just proud of this team. We played hard together," Banks said.

The Indiana All-Stars jumped out to a 7-0 advantage, as Julie DeMuth (Merrillville) started the scoring with a 3-pointer, followed by a basket from Leininger (Warsaw) and a Banks move inside.

In the meantime, Kentucky missed its first three shots and had three turnovers, prompting a timeout with 16:28 to play.

"I think by getting behind, we weren't able to do some of the things that we wanted to do and take advantage of our size," Kentucky coach Donna Moir said.

Indiana held a 30-22 lead at halftime after shooting 24.3 percent from the field, just slightly better than Kentucky's 23.1 percent. Ten of Kentucky's 22 points came on free throws.

Kentucky closed to within 36-30 on Anitha Smith-Williams' basket with 15:47 remaining. But a 3-pointer from Gretchen Haehl (Shelbyville) sparked a 10-0 run by Indiana.

Kentucky crept within 48-38 on a breakaway layup by Trish Todd but came no closer than seven points the rest of the way.

"I think the main thing here tonight was the fact that our kids came out and they were tired of people saying we couldn't beat Kentucky, because this was the best team that Kentucky has put on the floor," Indiana coach Jodie Whitaker said.

Indiana held a 51-49 edge on the boards, impressive considering five Kentucky players are listed as 6-foot or taller, including the 6-6 Sarah Elliot.

At 6-2, Amber Jackson is Indiana's tallest player. The Brebeuf Jesuit graduate had eight rebounds and four points.

"We knew it was going to be a lot of hard work and that was one of our goals, to block out and out-rebound them because that would make the game a lot easier for us," Jackson said.

Indiana's defense had 24 steals and forced 30 turnovers.

Kentucky Miss Basketball Crystal Kelly, a 6-3 post player, scored seven points and had nine rebounds.

Todd was the only Kentucky player in double figures with 12 points.

"We focused all week on the defensive end of the floor and how we were going to defend their post," Whitaker said.

"I thought we did an outstanding job not only on the inside but our guards did a great job of pressuring the pass into the post."

Whitaker said her team's intensity Wednesday night in a close win over the Indiana Junior All-Stars wasn't close to what it was Saturday. "We were focused from the time we left the hotel until we got here until the end of the game," Whitaker said.

Indiana will meet Kentucky again at Conseco Fieldhouse on Saturday.

Call Star reporter Kristen Leigh Porter at (317) 444-2611.

INDIANA Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A F T Pts

Leininger 18 2-8 4-4 2-3 0 3 3 8

Banks 29 7-20 7-8 6-11 2 1 1 21

Felke 18 0-2 0-0 0-2 1 1 1 0

Parker 26 4-7 2-4 2-3 3 3 8 11

DeMuth 18 1-7 1-2 1-6 0 4 0 4

Freeman 12 2-4 0-0 1-4 0 3 0 5

Haehl 20 1-6 0-0 2-4 2 2 3 3

Jackson 18 2-6 0-0 4-8 0 1 1 4

Miller 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Kenney 7 0-0 3-4 0-0 0 1 0 3

Frame 8 0-1 1-2 0-0 0 1 1 1

Squire 10 0-7 2-2 0-1 0 1 1 2

Gugliotta 15 1-5 2-2 3-7 4 1 0 4

Team 1-2 1

Totals 20-73 22-28 22-51 12 22 20 66

Three-point shooting: 4-22, (Parker 1-1, Freeman 1-2, Haehl 1-3, DeMuth 1-4, Leininger 0-1, Gugliotta 0-1, Felke 0-2, Banks 0-4, Squire 0-4). Steals: 24 (Haehl 5, DeMuth 4, Leininger 3, Kenney 3, Banks 2, Parker 2, Gugliotta 2, Freeman, Jackson, Squire). Blocked shots: 10 (Banks 2, Felke 2, DeMuth 2, Jackson 2, Kenney, Gugliotta).

KENTUCKY Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A F T Pts

Kelly 31 2-6 3-4 4-9 1 4 2 7

Barlow 25 1-10 2-2 1-5 3 3 3 4

Bingham 30 4-10 0-2 1-7 0 2 5 8

Stiger 17 2-8 0-0 1-1 2 0 2 4

Todd 28 3-10 5-6 1-5 1 0 5 12

Richmond 4 0-0 2-3 0-0 0 0 0 2

Sellers 11 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 2 0 0

Elliot 9 2-3 2-2 1-2 0 2 3 6

Perry 11 0-4 2-2 0-4 0 3 1 2

McGrath 9 0-0 0-0 0-2 1 2 3 0

S.-Williams 13 3-5 0-0 1-2 0 1 4 6

Chiodi 12 1-1 0-0 0-1 0 1 1 2

Team 6-11 1

Totals 18-60 16-21 16-49 8 20 30 53

Three-point shooting: 1-10 (Todd 1-4, Barlow 0-1, Bingham 0-1, Stiger 0-4). Steals: 12 (Bingham 3, Todd 3, Smith-Williams 2, Kelly, Barlow, Stiger, Perry). Blocked shots: 4 (Kelly 2, Bingham, Perry).

Halftime: Indiana 30, Kentucky 22. Officials: Jack Whittemore, Steve Martin, Shannon Feck.