May 5, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. - The Penn State Lady Lions will host Georgia Tech in the Third Annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge on Wednesday, Dec. 2 at the Bryce Jordan Center, it was announced by the Big Ten and ACC today. This will be the first-ever meeting between the Lady Lions and the Yellow Jackets.
The Lady Lions are 1-1 in Big Ten/ACC Challenge games with a victory over Duke in the inaugural Challenge and a loss at Florida State last season. Game times, as well as television and broadband coverage, will be announced at a later date.
The Lady Lions return 10 letterwinners, including three starters from last season's team. Headlining the list of returnees is first team All-Big Ten selection Tyra Grant (Youngstown, Ohio). Grant is the 10th player in school history to claim All-Big Ten first team honors, giving the Lady Lions a conference-best 22 first team choices since joining the league. Grant finished second in the Big Ten and 19th in the NCAA with a 19.6 scoring average, which was also good enough for sixth on Penn State's single-season list.
The Lions also welcome back Julia Trogele (Devon, Pa.) and Janessa Wolff (Park Rapids, Minn.). Trogele led the team and was 12th in the Big Ten in rebounding with a 6.3 average. She was also fourth on the team in scoring at a 7.3 per game clip. Wolff was fifth on the team in scoring (6.8) and second in rebounding (5.6).
The Big Ten/ACC Women's Basketball Challenge matches 11 teams from each conference in head-to-head competition traditionally on the first Wednesday, Thursday and Friday after Thanksgiving, following the men's basketball Big Ten/ACC Challenge. Last year, the ACC won seven of the 11 Big Ten/ACC Challenge games, while the inaugural Challenge in 2007 saw the ACC collect eight victories.
The Big Ten and ACC offices determine the 11-game schedule each season, and matchups may repeat from year-to-year in efforts to coordinate similar opponents and reach competitive equity. Each of the Big Ten's 11 institutions will participate, while the ACC will select 11 teams from its 12-team membership.
2009 BIG TEN/ACC CHALLENGE SCHEDULE
Wednesday, December 2
Georgia Tech at Penn State
Illinois at Wake Forest
Boston College at Iowa
Thursday, December 3
Michigan at Virginia Tech
Clemson at Northwestern
Minnesota at Maryland
North Carolina at Michigan State
Ohio State at Duke
Purdue at Virginia
Florida State at Indiana
Wisconsin at N.C. State