Jan. 1, 2009
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The Penn State Lady Lions (6-7, 1-2) jumped out early, but Minnesota (9-4, 1-1) used a late first-half run to post a 69-55 victory over the Lady Lions at Williams Arena Thursday afternoon.
Senior Mashea Williams (Erie, Pa.) and junior Tyra Grant (Youngstown, Ohio) led three Lady Lions in double figures with 12 points each. Williams had a career-high three blocked shots to go along with six rebounds and three steals, while Grant added five rebounds in the loss. Senior point guard Brianne O'Rourke (Pittsburgh, Pa.) accounted for 11 points, three assists and two steals against the Gophers, while Julia Trogele (Devon, Pa.), who left the game briefly in the first half, chipped in seven points and four rebounds.
The Lady Lions were solid out of the gate as they won the tip and charged down the court for an easy Williams layup and a 2-0 lead just six seconds in. After a Trogele defensive rebound, O'Rourke converted on a fastbreak jumper and Williams made a basket to push the lead to 6-0 with 18:17 on the clock. A Katie Ohm three-pointer put Minnesota in the scoring column, but Penn State immediately responded with a triple of its own by Grant at the 17:24 mark.
A 7-0 run by Minnesota gave the Golden Gophers their first lead of the game at 10-9 before back-to-back baskets by Williams and O'Rourke put the Lady Lions ahead by three (13-10) with 14:28 left in the first period. The Gophers scored four straight points to regain the lead before a Trogele layup gave PSU at 15-14 lead with just over 13 minutes remaining.
Minnesota registered a pair of free throws from Ashley Ellis-Milan to take a one-point lead (16-15), but both teams' shooting went ice cold as neither team scored for the next four minutes until Ellis-Milan connected on a pair of free throws to give Minnesota an 18-15 lead. Trogele snapped Penn State's scoreless streak with a jumper, but Ellis-Milan responded with a basket to keep the lead at three points (20-17). O'Rourke knotted the game at 20-20 with a three-pointer at the 7:10 mark, but the Golden Gophers kicked off a 7-0 run to take a 27-20 lead with five and a half minutes remaining in the half.
A basket by Trogele made it a five-point deficit until Ohm hit a three-pointer with just under four minutes on the clock to push the Minnesota lead to 30-22. Two free throws and a three-pointer by Meggan Quinn (Red Lion, Pa.) were sandwiched around a three-pointer by Emily Fox to send the teams into the half with Minnesota holding a 33-27 lead.
O'Rourke led the Lady Lions with seven points, while Williams and Trogele added six tallies apiece in the opening frame. In a return to her home state, Janessa Wolff (Park Rapids, Minn.) pulled down five first-half rebounds to lead Penn State.
Williams scored a quick basket for the Lions to open the second and cut the deficit to four points (33-29), but the Golden Gophers reeled off six straight points to establish their largest lead of the game at 10 points (39-29) with just over 17 minutes left in the half. The lead remained in double figures for the next several minutes until a 5-0 spurt by the Golden Gophers made it a 14-point game (56-42) with 9:25 on the clock.
A Grant three-pointer sparked an 8-2 run by the Lady Lions to cut the deficit to seven points at 58-51 with just under seven minutes to play. Grant also connected on a runner in the lane, O'Rourke drained a pair of free throws and Williams netted a jumper off of an in-bounds pass from O'Rourke during the run. Unfortunately, the Gophers scored five consecutive points to push the lead back to double-digits at 63-51 with five minutes left. The Lady Lions would climb within 10 points down the stretch, but could not overcome the deficit.
GAME NOTES: Freshman guard Renee Womack missed today's game with a slight knee injury...Senior guard Mashea Williams set her career high with three blocked shots against the Golden Gophers. Her previous mark was two rejections against Wisconsin on Feb. 3, 2008.
The Lady Lions return to the BJC to meet Michigan (Sun., Jan. 4) and Indiana (Sun., Jan. 11). Both the Michigan and Indiana games are Subway Full Court Four-Pack games where fans will receive our (4) reserved game tickets, a voucher for four (4) soft drinks redeemable at the Jordan Center and a voucher for four (4) 6-inch subs redeemable at any of seven State College area Subway locations all for just $40. The voucher is not valid at the Bryce Jordan Center Subway location. For information on Lady Lion Basketball tickets, call the Penn State ticket office at 814-865-5555.
The 2009 WBCA Pink Zone at Penn State proudly supported by Mimi Barash Coppersmith (formerly known as THINK PINK Day) will take place on Sunday, Feb. 15 at 3 p.m., as the Lady Lions take on Iowa in the Bryce Jordan Center. The game can be seen on www.bigtennetwork.com. The first two Pink Zone events have raised more than $50,000 for breast cancer awareness. This year's fundraising efforts will benefit the Penn State Hershey Breast Cancer Institute, the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition and the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund. For more information on the Pink Zone at Penn State, visit the official Pink Zone website at www.gopsusports.com/pinkzone.