March 5, 2008
2008 Big Ten Tournament Notes
Big Ten Tournament Central
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. - After posting a 13-17 overall record and 4-14 mark in conference play, the Lady Lions are off to Indianapolis for the Big Ten Tournament presented by XBox 360 at Conseco Fieldhouse where they will be the 10th seed and face the seventh-seeded Michigan Wolverines at noon on Thursday on the Big Ten Network. The winner of Thursday's game will go on to face second-seeded Iowa at 11:30 a.m., on Friday, which also airs on the Big Ten Network.
Thursday's will be televised on the Big Ten Network with Mark Neely and Mary Murphy 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 20-11 all-time in the Big Ten Tournament, including a 2-1 mark in the first round. The last time Penn State played a first round game, the Lady Lions posted an 80-73 win over #9 seed Wisconsin in the 2006 tournament. The Lady Lions have won the Big Ten Tournament twice (1995 & 1996).
The Lady Lions lead the all-time series with the Wolverines by a 22-7 margin, including a 20-6 advantage in Big Ten games. Penn State has won 10 of the last 12 meetings with Michigan, but each team won on their home court this year. The two squads split their only two meetings in the Big Ten Tournament with the Lady Lions posting an 87-81 overtime in 1998 and the Wolverines earning a 66-60 victory in the 2001 tourney.
Senior Kam Gissendanner (Clairton, Pa.), junior Brianne O'Rourke (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and sophomore Tyra Grant (Youngstown, Ohio) were selected to the All-Big Ten teams on Monday. Gissendanner was a third team choice by the coaches and an honorable mention recipient by the media, while O'Rourke earned third team accolades from the media and an honorable mention nod from the coaches. Grant was an honorable mention selection by both the coaches and media.
Gissendanner, who was an honorable mention selection each of the last two years, is in the Top 10 in the Big Ten in both scoring (10th - 13.4 ppg) and rebounding (8th - 6.4 rpg) and has come on strong of late. In her last nine games, she has led the team in scoring eight times and is averaging 18.6 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.9 steals and 1.1 blocks per game. During this stretch, she has raised her season scoring average nearly two points per game to 13.4, which is second on the team.
O'Rourke leads the Big Ten and is 60th in the NCAA in overall assists per game (4.7). With her 4.94 assist average during conference game, O'Rourke wins the Big Ten assists crown for the second time in her career (2005-06), becoming the sixth player in Big Ten history to lead the league in assists multiple times.
Grant leads the team and is ninth in the league in scoring with a 13.7 average. She has four 20-point games this season and is just 38 points away from 900 tallies for her career. The Dec. 17 Big Ten Player of the Week is 16th on the Lady Lion career three-pointers chart with 73 treys in two seasons.
Julia Trogele (Devon, Pa.) has been solid since entering the starting line-up for the Lady Lions five games ago, averaging 5.0 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game. The rookie guard/post player stands second on Penn State's freshman season free throw percentage chart with a 95.0% mark from the charity stripe, behind Adrienne Squire's perfect 10-for-10 freshman campaign. Entering the Big Ten Tournament, Trogele has made her last 11 shots from the free throw line.
Fellow rookie Janessa Wolff (Park Rapids, Minn.) ranks seventh among Big Ten rookies in conference play in scoring (6.5), fourth in rebounding (4.9), first in field goal percentage (.568) and fourth in total blocks (12). She is eighth on Penn State's freshman season rebounding charts with 137 caroms and is two boards away from tying Tanisha Wright for seventh spot.
2008 Big Ten Tournament
Thursday, March 6
Game 1: #7 Michigan vs. #10 Penn State (BTN), 12 p.m.
Game 2: #6 Indiana vs. #11 Northwestern (BTN), 25 min. after G1
Game 3: #8 Wisconsin vs. #9 Illinois (BTN), 25 min. after G2
Friday, March 7
Game 4: #2 Iowa vs. Winner of game 1 (BTN), 11:30 a.m.
Game 5: #3 Purdue vs. Winner of game 2 (BTN), 25 min. after G4
Game 6: #1 Ohio State vs. Winner of game 3 (BTN), 6 p.m.
Game 7: #4 Minnesota vs. #5 Michigan State (BTN), 25 min. after G6
Saturday, March 8
Game 8: Winner game 4 vs. Winner game 5 (BTN), 6 p.m.
Game 9: Winner game 6 vs. Winner game 7 (BTN), 25 min. after G8
Sunday, March 9
Game 10: Winner game 8 vs. Winner game 9 (ESPN2), 5:30 p.m.