Nov. 19, 2007
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. - After suffering their first loss of the season, the Lady Lions (3-1) return to the court when they travel to South Carolina Tuesday for a 7 p.m. meeting with the Gamecocks (3-0).
The game can be heard on the Penn State Sports Radio Network with Jerry Fisher (play-by-play) and Chris Morelli (analyst) calling action. Locally the game will air on the radio on WMAJ. The audio feed and a link to GameTracker are available at www.GoPSUSports.com.
The Lady Lions are 2-3 all-time against the Gamecocks, but have won each of the last two meetings, including a 68-57 decision in Happy Valley last season. This is just Penn State's second trip to Columbia. The first visit was a 66-63 South Carolina win on Jan. 18, 1983.
The Lady Lions held the lead late, but could not hold on down the stretch in a 72-68 loss to Xavier Thursday night in Cincinnati. Tyra Grant (Youngstown, Ohio) had a team-high 23 points and nine rebounds, while Kam Gissendanner (Clairton, Pa.) notched her first career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Mashea Williams (Erie, Pa.) scored 12 of her 14 points in the second period and Janessa Wolff (Park Rapids, Minn.) finished with six points and six rebounds for the Lady Lions.
Just 35 games into her career, Grant reached the 500-point plateau with 23 tallies against Xavier Nov. 15. She has 520 points in her young career. It was Grant's first 20-point performance of the season and eighth of her career.
In her first game back since tearing her ACL?and MCL?last season, sophomore guard Meggan Quinn (Red Lion, Pa.) tied her career high with four points in the first half against Xavier Nov. 15. She finished the game with the four tallies, a rebound and two assists in eight minutes of action.
Grant leads the Lady Lions in scoring with a 17.0 average and she has had the hot hand from the field on the season with a team-best 55.6% mark from the floor in four games. Gissendanner is second on the squad in scoring (17.0) and is tied for the team lead with a 6.5 rebounding average.
South Carolina is a perfect 3-0 this season with wins over St. Francis (Pa.), Virginia and Buffalo. Brionna Dickerson tops the squad in scoring with 51 points (17.0 ppg), while Demetress Adams is second on the team with a 15.3 scoring average.
The Lady Lions return to the Bryce Jordan Center to face Drexel on Sunday, Nov. 25 at 2 p.m., before visiting Old Dominion on Thursday, Nov. 29 at 7 p.m.
This season, Penn State introduced a new seven-game Lady Lion Flex Plan package where fans will receive a ticket to the Duke (Sun., Dec. 2) and Georgetown (Sun., Dec. 9) games and the second annual THINK PINK Day versus Iowa (Sun., Feb. 10), as well as four flex vouchers to redeem in any ticket combination for Big Ten games. Fans can purchase single-game tickets or flex plan packages by visiting the Bryce Jordan Center box office, calling 814-865-5555 or 800-863-3336 or by clicking on the ticket link on www.GoPSUsports.com.