| Junior guard Kam Gissendanner scored 15 of her game-high 17 points in the second half to lead the Lady Lions to a 66-57 win over Minnesota. Penn State is now 12-0 all-time against the Golden Gophers at home. |
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UNVERSITY PARK, PA.; February 15, 2007 ?? Junior guard Kam Gissendanner (Clairton, Pa.) scored 15 of her game-high 17 points in the second half to lead the Lady Lions (13-13, 6-7), who rallied from a double-digit first-half deficit, to a 66-57 win over Minnesota (14-13, 6-8) Thursday night at the Bryce Jordan Center.
Gissendanner was 6-for-10 from the field, including a career high-tying two three-pointers. She also accounted for two rebounds, four assists and two steals. Senior post player Amanda Brown (Kennett Square, Pa.) registered her 11th double-double of the season and league-best eighth double-double in Big Ten play with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman Tyra Grant (Youngstown, Ohio) also reached double figures with 11 points, while sophomore guard Brianne O??Rourke (Pittsburgh, Pa.) added eight points, five rebounds and six assists.
The Lady Lions, who committed just four turnovers in the second period, came out of the locker room at the half with a vengeance after a slow start in the first half, going on a 16-2 run to open the period. Sophomore guard Mashea Williams (Erie, Pa.) kicked off the run just 30 seconds into the frame with a steal and an old-fashioned three-point play to slice the deficit to two points (29-27). Less than 30 seconds later, Gissendanner connected on a jumper to tie the game at 29-29. Gissendanner was not done as she single-handedly brought Penn State to the lead with a pair of three-pointers that were sandwiched around a Brown lay-up. A free throw by Charity Renfro (Las Vegas, Nev.) and another jumper by Gissendanner gave Penn State a 40-31 lead with 15:19 left in the game.
The Golden Gophers were not done fighting, however, as they proceeded to reel off a 10-2 run to move within one point at 42-41 with 12:02 left in the game. But Penn State would not let this very important game slip away as the Lady Lions moved out to its largest lead of the game with a 14-4 run to make it a 56-45 PSU lead with 7:35 left on the clock. Grant keyed the Lady Lion run with eight points, including a three-pointer at the 8:35 mark that brought the crowd to its feet. O??Rourke also contributed a pair of key baskets during the run. The Lady Lions kept the lead in the eight- to 10-point range for the remainder of the game thanks to solid free throw shooting and timely rebounding.
Minnesota jumped out to an early 6-0 lead as the Lady Lions were plagued with turnovers in the opening two and a half minutes of the game, but back-to-back baskets by Renfro cut the Golden Gopher lead to 6-4 with 16:26 remaining. Minnesota would bring the lead back up to six points where it would remain until baskets by Gissendanner and Grant cut the lead back to two points (12-10) at the midway point of the opening period. The Minnesota offense continued to keep the pressure on a moved the lead back out to six points with just under nine minutes on the clock. A three-pointer by O??Rourke at the 7:55 mark cut the lead in half (17-14), but a Kelly Roysland three-pointer and an Ashley Ellis-Milan bucket gave Minnesota and eight points advantage (22-14) with six minutes remaining in the frame. The Golden Gopher pulled out to its largest lead of the half at 10 points (28-18) with 3:12 on the clock before PSU closed the half with a 6-1 run to go into the locker room with a five point deficit at 29-24. The Lady Lions had 14 first-half turnovers.
Freshman Brittany McCoy had a career-high 16 points to lead Minnesota.
The Lady Lions will close out the road portion of their schedule at Iowa Sunday and at #4/5 Ohio State on Feb. 22. Penn State will return to the Bryce Jordan Center for ??Senior Day?? on Sunday, Feb. 25 against Indiana. The Lady Lions will also celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day at halftime of the Indiana game.
Single-game tickets for the Lady Lions may be purchased by visiting the ticket section of GoPSUsports.com or by calling the ticket office at 814-865-5555. Women's single game tickets are $12 for adults and $5 for students and youth (under 18).