Nov. 21, 2008
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UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. - The Penn State Lady Lions (3-0) used stifling defense and a 22-point second half performance from junior guard Tyra Grant (Youngstown, Ohio) to post a dominating 80-49 victory over Prairie View A&M (1-3) Friday night at the Bryce Jordan Center. The last time a Lady Lion team scored 80 or more points in back-to-back games was against Alabama A&M (Dec. 19, 2005) and St. Francis (Dec. 22, 2005).
The win improves the Lady Lions to 3-0 on the season for the third straight year and also breaks the school record for consecutive non-conference home wins (16). The previous record was 15 set by the 1984-87 squads.
Nine different Lady Lions scored, led by Grant who finished with a game-high 26 points, including an 8-for-8 effort from the free throw line. She also added four rebounds, a career-best four steals and two assists. It was the 12th 20-point performance of Grant's career. Senior guard Brianne O'Rourke (Pittsburgh, Pa.) connected on a career-high four three-pointers en route to 18 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Junior Meggan Quinn (Red Lion, Pa.) continued her hot streak from Wednesday night as she hit two three-pointers and finished with eight points, while Janessa Wolff (Park Rapids, Minn.) just missed out on a double-double with seven points and 10 rebounds off of the bench.
The Panthers came out with the hot hand as they knocked down two three-pointers in the first minute of the half to jump out to a 6-2 lead. Prairie View would add another bucket before the Lady Lions went on a 11-1 run that included a pair of three-pointers from O'Rourke and two points each from Julia Trogele (Devon, Pa.) and Grant to take a 13-9 lead with 13:49 on the clock.
Prairie View pulled within two points (15-13) but Penn State rattled off seven straight points, capped off by a Quinn three-pointer to make it a 22-13 game with eight and a half minutes to play in the half. The Lady Lions extended their lead to as many as 13 points at 31-19 with 1:15 to play, but Prairie View scored the final seven points of the half to send the teams into the half with Penn State leading 32-26.
O'Rourke led the Lady Lions with 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting, while Quinn knocked down two three-pointers en route to six points. Evelyn Lewis (Hampton, Va.) grabbed seven rebounds to go along with four points and a steal.
Grant came out firing as she netted a three-pointer off of an O'Rourke pass to give the Lady Lions a 35-26 lead. A Penn State turnover led to the Panther layup to cut it to a seven points lead, but the Lady Lions bounced back with a Grant fastbreak layup and an O'Rourke jumper to pull ahead by double digits (39-28) with 15 minutes left in the game.
An 8-2 run by the Lady Lions over the next four minutes put gave PSU a comfortable 17-point lead (47-30). During the run, O'Rourke accounted for five points, Grant had a layup and Wolff knocked down a free throw. The Panthers did not let up as they scored eight of the next 10 points to slice the Lady Lion lead to 11 points (49-38) with just under 10 minutes remaining in the game.
A Wolff free throw and a Grant three-pointer were sandwiched around a Prairie View layup to give the Lady Lions a 55-40 lead with 8:25 left to play. After Panther free throw, Penn State got four consecutive free throws from Grant and a layup by Trogele to extend the lead to an even 20 points (61-41) with just under seven minutes remaining.
After a pair of Panther free throws, Grant sparked a 17-2 with two free throws and a jumper in back-to-back possessions to expand the Lady Lion lead to 33 points with 1:15 left in the game. Grant had six points during the run and freshman Zhaque Gray (Chicago, Ill.) added the first two free throws of her career and a three-pointer to pace the Lady Lions. Junior walk-on Nicole Arcidiacono (Langhorne, Pa.) capped Penn State's scoring effort with a jumper with one second remaining to give the Lady Lions the 80-49 win.
GAME NOTES: Senior Brianne O'Rourke hit the 800-point mark for her career with 18 tallies against the Panthers...Junior guard Tyra Grant notched her 12th career 20-point scoring effort with 26 tallies...Grant tied her career high with four steals...Sophomore Julia Trogele had a career-high five assists, including four helpers in the first half...Penn State is 3-0 of the third straight year...The Lady Lions are now 2-0 all-time against Prairie View A&M...The Lady Lions 16th straight non-conference victory at the BJC, breaking the school record for consecutive non-conference home wins (15 by the 1984-87).
The Lady Lions hit the road for four games, starting with an intrastate match-up at Pittsburgh on Monday at 7 p.m. at the Petersen Events Center. Penn State will then travel to Malibu, Calif., for the Timeout 4 HIV/AIDS Tournament at Pepperdine University where they will face # 12/7 Texas A&M in the opening round. After an ACC/Big Ten Challenge road game at Florida State on Wednesday, Dec. 3, the Lady Lions return to the Bryce Jordan Center on Saturday, Dec. 6 to face Dayton at noon. For information on Lady Lion Basketball tickets, call the Penn State ticket office at 814-865-5555.
The 2009 WBCA Pink Zone at Penn State proudly supported by Mimi Barash Coppersmith (formerly known as THINK PINK Day) will take place on Sunday, Feb. 15 at 3 p.m., as the Lady Lions take on Iowa in the Bryce Jordan Center. The game can be seen on www.bigtennetwork.com. The first two Pink Zone events have raised more than $50,000 for breast cancer awareness. This year's fundraising efforts will benefit the Penn State Hershey Breast Cancer Institute, the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition and the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund. For more information on the Pink Zone at Penn State, visit the official Pink Zone website at www.gopsusports.com/pinkzone.