Dec. 21, 2008
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. - The Penn State Lady Lions (5-6, 0-1) led by as many as six points with 7:33 remaining in the game, but two late Michigan State (8-4, 1-0) spelled doom for the Lady Lions as the Spartans posted a 67-60 win over Penn State in the Big Ten opener for both teams at the Bryce Jordan Center Sunday afternoon.
Junior guard Tyra Grant (Youngstown, Ohio) posted her third consecutive game with 20 or more points as she chipped in 22 tallies on 10-of-20 shooting. She also grabbed four rebounds and blocked two shots, which equaled her season total entering Sunday's game. Senior guard Brianne O'Rourke (Pittsburgh, Pa.) added 18 points and five assists, while fellow senior Mashea Williams (Erie, Pa.) contributed nine points, five rebounds and three steals to continue her solid play since returning to the lineup.
Sophomores Janessa Wolff (Park Rapids, Minn.) and Julia Trogele (Devon, Pa.) accounted for seven and four points, respectively, and were the only other Lady Lions to enter in the scoring column. Wolff also pulled down five rebounds and had a blocked shot. Trogele, who was battling a cold that affected her breathing, grabbed a team-best six rebounds and stole a game-high four passes.
The Lady Lions looked sloppy early as they missed their first three shots and turned the ball over three times to allow Michigan State to jump out to an 8-0 lead, but five quick points by O'Rourke and a three-pointer from the corner from Grant knotted the game at 8-8 with 15 minutes to play. The Lions continued to roll as Trogele found O'Rourke for a jumper in transition to give Penn State its first lead of the game at 10-8 with 14:46 on the clock. O'Rourke capped the 11-0 Lady Lion run by connecting on one of her two free throw attempts.
The lead remained within a possession for the next several minutes until four consecutive baskets by the Spartans gave Michigan State a 22-16 lead with 5:48 left in the period. Williams ended the Michigan State run with a jumper in the paint, but MSU responded with a layup by Allyssa DeHaan to keep the Spartan lead at six points (24-18) with just over five minutes to play in the half.
Grant drained a three-pointer to jumpstart a 10-0 run to push the Lady Lions out to a 28-24 lead with just over two minutes on the clock. During the run, Williams took an outlet pass from Grant for the layup and the foul, but unfortunately missed the free throw attempt. Wolff added three free throws and Grant completed the run with a layup off of a steal by Williams.
The Spartans would not yield to the Lady Lions' late first-half run as MSU connected on back-to-back three-pointers to pull ahead by two points (30-28) with 59 seconds left. However, the Lady Lions were not done as they had a pair of Grant transition baskets left in the tank. With 34 seconds left, Grant took an outlet pass from Williams for the easy layup to tie the game at 30-30. On the ensuing possession, O'Rourke snatched the rebound of found a streaking Grant for the wide-open layup at the buzzer to send the Lady Lions to the locker room with a 32-30 lead.
Grant led all players with 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting, while O'Rourke added eight points and four assists. Williams and Wolff rounded out the Lady Lion scoring efforts in the first half with five tallies each. The Lady Lions did a good job of distributing the rock as they accumulated 10 assists on 12 baskets. Penn State also registered eight steals on 12 MSU turnovers.
The Lady Lions kept the momentum rolling to open the second half as they scored the first four points of the frame on a jumper by O'Rourke and a Williams layup off of a steal by Trogele to put Penn State ahead 36-30 with 18:43 left in the game. The squads exchanged baskets over the next several possessions to keep the Penn State lead between five and six points until a quick 4-0 spurt by Penn State via two Trogele free throws and a Wolff layup brought the lead to the largest of the game at eight points (51-43) with 9:23 remaining. However, the Spartans charged back with five straight points to cut the Lady Lion lead to three points at 51-48 with eight minutes left.
Evelyn Lewis (Hampton, Va.) grabbed the rebound off of a Wolff miss and kicked it out to O'Rourke at the three-point line for the bucket and a six-point Penn State lead (54-48) with 7:33 on the clock. The Lady Lions went cold offensively and allowed the Spartans to go on a 10-0 run to establish a 58-54 lead with 4:28 remaining in the game.
O'Rourke stopped the scoreless skid for the Lady Lions with a pair of free throws. Following two Michigan State freebies, Grant connected on a driving layup to cut the Penn State deficit to just two points (60-58) with 3:39 left in the game. Stout defense by the Lady Lions forced a miss by Michigan State and led to a game-tying layup by Grant with just under three minutes remaining, but the Spartans went on a 7-0 run to close out the game at post the win.
GAME NOTES: Senior guard Brianne O'Rourke reached the 900-point plateau with 18 tallies against the Spartans. She now has 915 career points...Penn State falls to 10-7 in Big Ten openers...The Lady Lions are 12-5 in Big Ten home openers...Penn State falls to 23-8 all-time against Michigan State, 13-2 in Happy Valley. Michigan State has won the last two matchups in Happy Valley...Sophomore Julia Trogele had a career-high four steals...With 15 steals in today's game, the Lady Lions now have earned 10-plus steals in six of the last seven games...O'Rourke had her seventh game this season with five or more assists...With 22 points in today's game, junior Tyra Grant has scored 20 or more points in her last three games. Additionally, it is her sixth game of the season with 20-plus points and 17th of her career.
Penn State faces Illinois in the "Operation Warm" game for this season on Sunday, Dec. 28 at noon. The game against the Illini is also a Subway Full Court 4-Pack day and can be seen on the Big Ten Network. Following the Illinois game, the Lady Lions travel to Minnesota for a New Year's Day contest before returning to the BJC to meet Michigan (Sun., Jan. 4) and Indiana (Sun., Jan. 11). 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.