| Kam Gissendanner scored 21 points, but the Lady Lions lost a heartbreaking 73-71 overtime decision to top-seeded Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy) |
- Box Score
INDIANAPOLIS, IND.; March 4, 2007 ?? The fifth-seeded Lady Lions (15-16, 7-9) started slow in the first half, but came out strong in the second period to give top-seeded Ohio State (28-2, 15-1) all it could handle before dropping a heartbreaking 73-71 decision in overtime in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament presented by Xbox 360. The Buckeyes will now face No. 2 seed Purdue in the Big Ten Championship game tomorrow night at Conseco Fieldhouse.
Junior guard Kam Gissendanner (Clairton, Pa.) led the way for the Lady Lions offensively with 21 points on 8-of-16 shooting. Freshman guard Tyra Grant (Youngstown, Ohio) also reached double figures with 17 points, while Brianne O??Rourke (Pittsburgh, Pa.) chipped in 12 tallies, four assists and four steals.
The Lady Lions came out strong in the overtime as Amanda Brown (Kennett Square, Pa.) netted a jumper just seconds into overtime to give Penn State its first lead since the early part of the first half at 68-66. A pair of Gissendanner free throws extended the lead to four points with just over three minutes left in the game. Jessica Davenport, who scored all seven Buckeye points in overtime, went on a personal 6-0 run to give OSU the lead for the final time at 72-70 with 1:33 on the clock. The Lady Lions were not without their chances at the end of the game as senior Charity Renfro (Las Vegas, Nev.), who had nine rebounds in the game, missed a lay-up with 32 seconds remaining and Grant could not get a potentially game-tying jumper off before the buzzer.
After shooting just 22.6% from the field in the opening frame, the Lady Lions came out clicking on all cylinders in the second half as they connected on seven of their first eight from the field and all four of their free throws in the opening seven minutes to cut the Ohio State lead to 45-39 with 13:15 left on a Gissendanner connected on a three-pointer. Another field goal by Gissendanner sliced the deficit to four points (45-41) with 12:37 remaining. However, it was short-lived as Ohio State responded a basket by Davenport and an offensive rebound and a bucket by Maria Moeller brought the lead back to eight with 12 minutes remaining.
Penn State bounced right back as Rashida Mark (Brooklyn, N.Y.) was fouled as she made her lay-up with 11:11 remaining. Mark would miss the ensuing free throw, but Grant corralled the rebound and netted the lay-up to make it a 49-47 game. The Buckeyes would keep the pressure on as they converted on several key baskets to stretch the lead back to five points and extend it to nine tallies (62-53) on back-to-back baskets by Davenport and Star Allen before an O??Rourke floater and Gissendanner??s third three-pointer of the game moved it back to four point lead at 62-58 with 5:20 on the clock. After an exchange of baskets, Brown drew and offensive foul that resulted in three-pointer by Grant that cut the lead to just one point with less than three minutes remaining.
The Lady Lion defense held its own on the next trip down the floor as it forced two missed shots. However, the Buckeyes were able to snatch the offensive rebound in each instance and get a new 30-second clock before Davenport converted on a lay-up with 54 seconds on the clock to make it a 66-63 lead. On PSU??s next possession, O??Rourke netted a three-pointer from the top of the circle with 29.6 seconds left to tie the game at 66-66. The Buckeyes had one final chance, but Davenport could not convert on a jumper in the lane in the waning moments to send the game into overtime.
Both teams struggled in the early going as the combined for just six points, including two tallies apiece from Gissendanner and O??Rourke, in the first six minutes. Penn State??s lead quickly dissipated as Ohio State went on a 14-2 run to move out to a 16-6 lead. The lead would remain in the eight to 10 point range for the remainder of the half thanks to 13 Buckeye turnovers. Penn State went into halftime trailing by 10 points (29-19) as the Lady Lions only managed seven field goals on 22.6% mark from the field in the first period to a 68.4% effort for the Buckeyes.