Nov. 20, 2007
COLUMBIA, S.C. - The Lady Lions (4-1) shook off the road jinx Tuesday night with a 70-63 win at South Carolina (3-1). It is the first road win for the Lady Lions since the 52-44 victory at Georgetown on Dec. 17, 2006. Penn State led by as many as 12 in the second half, but let the Gamecocks back in the game late before cementing the win with a late-game run.
Senior guard Kam Gissendanner (Clairton, Pa.) posted her second-straight double-double with 10 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. She also dished out four assists, including two outstanding outlet passes late in the game that led to lay-ups by Tyra Grant (Youngstown, Ohio). Grant finished with a team-best 17 points and accounted for four rebounds, four assists and two blocks. Freshman Janessa Wolff (Park Rapids, Minn.) came off the bench to accumulate 12 points and five boards.
After giving up two early baskets, the Lady Lions also held the Gamecocks scoreless for nearly four minutes to establish an early 10-4 lead nearly six minutes into the game. Gissendanner paced Penn State early with four points and Wolff, Brianne O'Rourke (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and Mashea Williams (Erie, Pa.) added two points each. A nearly six-minute scoring drought in the middle part of the first half allowed the Gamecocks to chip away at the PSU lead until they finally tied the game at 13-13 at the 8:14 mark on a Demetress Adams three-point play.
With the game tied at 13-13, the Lady Lions went on a quick 8-0 run, which included a lay-up and three-pointer by Grant, to take a 21-13 lead with just under five minutes left in the half. South Carolina climbed within 26-21 with 2:23 left in the half, but Penn State used a basket by O'Rourke and a rebound and put-back by Wolff to enter the locker room with a 31-23 lead.
Gissendanner had a solid all-around first half with seven points and seven rebounds, while Grant chipped in seven points and three rebounds. Adams led the Gamecocks with 13 first-half tallies.
South Carolina would climb within six points at 33-27 to open the second half, but after Adams went to the bench with her fourth foul of the game at the 18:06 mark, the Lady Lions extended their lead to 12 points (43-31) with 14:39 remaining in the game when Williams drained two baskets and two free throws and Grant converted on two baskets.
After an exchange of baskets to make it 45-33, the Gamecocks scored the game's next three field goals to make it a 45-39 game with 9:43 on the clock. A lay-up by Rashida Mark (Brooklyn, N.Y.) moved it to a six-point lead, but South Carolina scored the next five points to pull within one marker (47-46) with just over six minutes to play.
A Wolff lay-up would extend the lead to three points, but South Carolina responded on the next possession with a three-pointer by Jordan Jones to tie the game at 49-49 with 5:38 remaining. The Gamecocks took the lead for the first time since the opening moments of the game with a basket by Brionna Dickerson.
Wolff then tied the game at 51-51 on the lay-up off of a great pass by Grant with 4:34 left to play. The Gamecocks would retake a two-point lead on a lay-up by Ilona Burgrova with 4:22 on the clock. Gissendanner's three-point gave the lead back to the Lady Lions and sparked a 13-1 run to give Penn State a 64-54 lead with 1:25 left to play. During the run, Mark grabbed an offensive rebound and put the ball back, Wolff received two great passes from Grant to get easy lay-ups and Grant converted on two fastbreak lay-ups off of Gissendanner passes.
Adams made consecutive baskets and Lakesha Tolliver connected on a three-pointer for South Carolina in the final minute, but O'Rourke was 6-for-6 from the free throw line to seal with win for Penn State.
The Lady Lions return to the Jordan Center to face Drexel on Sunday, Nov. 25 at 2 p.m., before visiting Old Dominion on Thursday night. Following the match-up with the Monarchs, Penn State is back in the Jordan Center to face nationally-ranked Duke in the inaugural Big Ten/ACC Challenge on Sunday, Dec. 2 at 5 p.m.
This season, Penn State introduces 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.