Jan. 23, 2008
Wisconsin Game Notes (1/24/08)
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. - The Lady Lions (13-6, 4-3) look to keep pace in the Big Ten standings with a key road game against Wisconsin (8-9, 1-6) on Thursday at the Kohl Center at 8 p.m. (Eastern). Penn State has won 11 of the last 12 meetings with the Badgers.
The game will be televised in Wisconsin on Wisconsin Public Television with Karie Cattanach and Ken Syke calling the action. The contest can also be heard on the Penn State Sports Radio Network with Jerry Fisher (play-by-play) and Chris Morelli (analyst) 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 23-5 all-time against Wisconsin, including a 21-5 lead in Big Ten games. Penn State picked up the win in the only meeting between the squads last season, a 70-61 victory on the First Annual THINK PINK Day. All five of Penn State's losses in the series have come in Madison.
These teams last met on THINK PINK Day with Tyra Grant (Youngstown, Ohio) leading four Lady Lions in double figures with 28 points via a 9-for-17 effort from the field to lift Penn State to 70-61 victory over Wisconsin in front of 8,800 pink-clad BJC fans on Feb. 4, 2007. Brianne O'Rourke (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and Kam Gissendanner (Clairton, Pa.) added 16 point and six rebounds apiece, while Rashida Mark (Brooklyn, N.Y.) contributed 11 points off the bench.
Gissendanner and junior guard Mashea Williams (Erie, Pa.) have both found success against the Badgers in their first four games versus Wisconsin. Gissendanner accounts for 14.0 points and 4.8 boards when playing against the Badgers, while Williams is averaging 10.5 points and 2.5 rebounds per game.
O'Rourke is one assist away from moving into a tie for 10th place on Penn State's career assists charts. She has 378 helpers in 79 career games, which is one shy of the 379 assists that Corinne Gulas dished out in her career from 1980-81. O'Rourke currently leads the Big Ten and is 36th nationally in assists per game at a 5.1 clip. She is also among the conference leaders in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.55).
Grant continues to lead four Lady Lions in double figures in the scoring column with a 14.8 average, while Gissendanner accounts for 11.6 points and a team-best 6.7 rebounds per game. Freshman Janessa Wolff (Park Rapids, Minn.) is coming off her first career start against Michigan in which she finished with eight points on 4-of-5 shooting and five rebounds.
The Badgers have lost four straight on the way to an 8-9 overall record and 1-6 record in Big Ten play. Jolene Anderson is the Big Ten's leading scorer at a 19.9 per game clip. She also leads the squad in rebounding (7.6). Janese Banks is second on the team in scoring (14.4).
Penn State continues its two-game road swing at #15/15 Ohio State on Monday, Jan. 28 at 7 p.m., a game that can be seen on the Big Ten Network. The Lady Lions return home to face Wisconsin on Kids Day at the Bryce Jordan Center on Sunday, Feb. 3 at 2 p.m. Kids interested in apply to get a behind the scenes look at Lady Lion game day, should send their name, phone number and email address to Rachel Rito (rar240@psu.edu).
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.