| Charity Renfro (left) scored 10 points and Amanda Brown had 20 points and 10 rebounds for her 13th double-double of the season to lead the Lady Lions past Indiana, 78-68, on Senior Day. Penn State earned the fifth seed in the Big Ten Tournament and will face fourth-seeded Illinois on Friday, March 2 in Indianapolis. |
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA.; February 25, 2007 ?? Seniors Amanda Brown (Kennett Square, Pa.) and Charity Renfro (Las Vegas, Nev.) celebrated Senior Day in style as the combined for 30 points and 18 rebounds to lead the Lady Lions (14-15, 7-9) to a 78-68 win over Indiana (17-12, 6-10) at the Bryce Jordan Center Sunday. The win, combined with losses by Minnesota and Wisconsin, give the Lady Lions the fifth seed in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament.
Brown had a team-best 20 points and 10 rebounds to notch her 13th double-double of the season. She also tied her career high with five assists and added a pair of blocks and a steal. Renfro tied her career high with 10 points, coming of 5-of-7 shooting. She also corralled eight rebounds. Freshman guard Tyra Grant (Youngstown, Ohio) notched her eighth-straight double-digit scoring game with 17 points, while Mashea Williams (Erie, Pa.) had a season-best 13 tallies to go along with five rebounds and six assists. Grant moved into third place on Penn State??s freshman season scoring list with 424 points this season, passing both Corinne Gulas and Suzie McConnell.
Fired up by the Senior Day ceremony before the game, the Lady Lions jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first two minutes of the game. Kam Gissendanner (Clairton, Pa.) scored Penn State??s first bucket and it was not long before the two seniors got involved as Renfro netted a jumper just over a minute into the contest and Brown converted on a three-point play just 30 seconds later. However, the Hoosiers found their legs with an 8-2 run to move within a point (9-8) with 15:28 remaining in the frame.
Grant drained a three-pointer from the baseline and was fouled at the 15:17 mark to give PSU a 12-8 lead, but she was unable to connect on the free throw to make it a four-point play. Sarah McKay responded immediately with a three-pointer and Nikki Smith tossed in a lay-up to give Indiana its first lead of the game at 13-12 with 13:56 left in the half. Once the Hoosiers tied the game, neither team would pull ahead by more than three tallies for the rest of the half as there were 15 lead changes and four ties. Indiana would prove to have the advantage heading into the locker room, 34-33. Brown completed the first half with 11 points, five rebounds and three assists, while Grant and Renfro added six points apiece.
The Lady Lions started the second period much in the same way as the first with Gissendanner scoring right out of the box, followed by a steal by Williams and lay-up by Brown to give Penn State a 39-36 lead just 1:30 into the frame. A transition basket by Williams and a fastbreak lay-up by Brown extended the Lady Lion lead to 43-38 with 16:21 on the clock and forced IU head coach Felisha Legette-Jack to call a timeout. Out of the break, the Hoosiers missed a three-pointer, allowing Brianne O??Rourke (Pittsburgh, Pa.) to breakaway for a lay-up to give PSU a seven-point advantage (45-38).
Indiana would slice into the Penn State lead with back-to-back baskets by Jamie Braun and McKay to make it a 50-47 margin with 11:37 remaining. After a pair of Williams free throws, a three-pointer by Smith made it a one possession game with 10:34 to go. Indiana tied the game for the first time since the opening moments of the second period with a bucket by Whitney Thomas, but Grant put the Lady Lions into the lead again with back-to-back three-pointers, including one triple as she was falling to the ground, with just over eight minutes left in the game. The Hoosiers would not go quietly as a three-point play by Thomas and two free throws by Braun at the 7:21 mark made it a 60-59 Penn State lead.
The seniors would not let this one get away as Renfro connected on a wide-open shot from the free throw line to give the Lady Lions a 63-61 lead with 5:40 on the clock. A pair of Leah Enterline free throws knotted the game at 63-63 with just over four minutes remaining before Brown drained two shots from the charity stripe to kick off an 11-0 run for the Lady Lions that put the game out of reach. The Lady Lions sealed the win with free throws down the stretch and helped Brown and Renfro go out on a winning note.
The Lady Lions will now face fourth-seeded Illinois at the 2007 Big Ten Tournament presented by XBox 360 on Friday, March 2 in Indianapolis, Ind. PSU came up short in its only game against the Illini this season, dropping a 74-65 overtime decision on Dec. 28 to open the Big Ten slate.