Dec. 27, 2007
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. - After a 13-day break for final exams and the holidays, the Lady Lions (9-3) return to the court for their Big Ten Conference opener at Iowa on Friday at 8:05 p.m. (Eastern). Penn State is 10-5 all-time in Big Ten openers since joining the conference in 1992-93 and 10-5 in Big Ten road openers.
The game can be heard on the Penn State Sports Radio Network with Jerry Fisher describing play. 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 19-12 overall against the Hawkeyes with a 14-10 mark in Big Ten games. The teams split a pair of meeting last season with each squad winning at home. Penn State has won six of the last seven encounters with Iowa, but is just 5-9 all-time in Iowa City.
Last time the teams met in Iowa City, Tyra Grant (Youngstown, Ohio) registered a career-high 33 points, becoming the first freshman in the Big?Ten since 2004 to score 30 points, in a 79-72 road loss to the Hawkeyes. Amanda Brown recorded a double-double in the loss with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Grant has had the hot hand against the Hawkeyes. In two career games, the sophomore guard is averaging 22.5 points 3.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists. Kam Gissendanner (Clairton, Pa.) has also had success against Iowa, averaging 16.0 points and 2.7 assists in three career games.
Grant leads four Lady Lions averaging double figures on the season with a 15.4 per game average, which is seventh in the Big Ten. Mashea Williams (Erie, Pa.) is fresh off her first career double-double with 17 points and a career-best 11 rebounds in the Dec. 15 win over Bucknell. She is second on the team in scoring with a 12.6 average and leads the squad in steals (1.7).
Brianne O'Rourke (Pittsburgh, Pa.) accounts for 12.4 points and 4.3 assists per game, which is tied for second in the conference. Gissendanner is the fourth Lady Lion averaging double figures at a 12.0 per game mark. She is just eight points away from the 1,000-point mark for her overall career and 32 tallies away from 1,000 for her Penn State career.
The Hawkeyes finished the non-conference slate with a 7-4 record and are coming off of a 21-point win over Western?Illinois. Wendy Ausdemore leads the team in scoring at a 12.4 per game clip and is connecting on 58.8% of her shots from three-point range. Kristi Smith is also averaging double figures for Iowa with an 11.0 per game mark.
The Lady Lions return to the Jordan Center for their Big Ten home opener against Illinois on Wednesday, Jan. 2 at 7 p.m., before heading to Michigan State on Saturday, Jan. 5 for a nationally televised game on CBS at noon.
Fans can purchase single-game tickets 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. The second annual THINK PINK Day is slated for Sunday, Feb. 10 versus Iowa at noon. For more information on THINK PINK Day, visit Penn State's official THINK PINK website at www.gopsusports.com/thinkpink.