Oct. 15, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. - The Penn State Lady Lion basketball team will open their 2009-10 season with their first official on Friday, October 16 at 5 p.m., in the South Gym at the Bryce Jordan Center.
Head coach Coquese Washington is in her third season at the helm and she returns nine letterwinners from a year ago, including first team All-Big Ten pick Tyra Grant (Youngstown, Ohio). The senior guard led the team and finished second in the conference with a 19.6 scoring average. She also finished in 18th in NCAA Division I in scoring. A preseason Wooden Award candidate, Grant is 13th in school history with 1,447 career points.
Also returning for the Lady Lions is junior guard/forward Julia Trogele (Devon, Pa.) who led the team in rebounding last season with a 6.3 per game mark. She was also 13th in the Big Ten with a 43.3% field goal percentage. Trogele spent the summer playing for the U20 German National Team in the FIBA European Championships. She led the team in scoring, rebounding, blocks and steals.
The Lady Lions have an exciting class of freshmen on the roster this season. The group, which was the 14th-ranked recruiting class by ESPN/Hoopgurlz includes WBCA and SLAM! Magazine All-American Nikki Greene (Diboll, Texas), Parade Magazine All-American Alex Bentley (Indianapolis, Ind.) and All-State performers Gizelle Studevent (La Jolla, Calif.) and Marisa Wolfe (Ford City, Pa.).
The Lady Lions open their season with an exhibition game against Indiana (Pa.) on Sun., Nov. 8 at 2 p.m. Penn State fans that attend the Indiana football game can use their football ticket to receive buy one ticket, get one free ticket for the Lady Lions' home opener against NJIT on Sun., Nov. 15 at 2 p.m. Lady Lion Basketball single game tickets are available by calling the ticket office at 814-865-5555, by visiting GoPSUsports.com or through Ticketmaster. Single game tickets are $12 for adults and $5 for students and youth. Penn State also offers special group ticket rates (15 fans or more) of $8 for adults.
The 2010 WBCA Pink Zone at Penn State will take place on Sunday, Jan. 24 at 1 p.m., as the Lady Lions take on Illinois in the Bryce Jordan Center. The game can be seen on www.bigtennetwork.com. The first three Pink Zone events have raised more than $80,000 for breast cancer awareness. This year's fundraising efforts will benefit the Mount Nittany Medical Center, Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute, 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.
The Lady Lions are on Twitter. Follow head coach Coquese Washington (@psucoachquese), sports information contact Kris Petersen (@ladylionsid) and the Lady Lions and assistant coaches (@pennstatewbb) to get the inside scoop. The Lady Lions are also on Facebook. Search Lady Lion Basketball and become a fan.