Dec. 21, 2009
By Greg Kincaid, Athletic Communications Student Assistant
During the 1996-97 season, freshman Helen Darling and her Lady Lion teammates were not invited to the NCAA Tournament.
In result, Darling and a handful of her Penn State teammates drove to Cincinnati to be spectators of the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament. This would eventually serve as a motivational tool that would drive Darling and the Lady Lions to an unforgettable run her senior year.
Two years following the trek to Cincinnati, the Penn State Lady Lions found themselves in the 1999 NCAA Tournament. After coming off a big first round win over the Virginia Cavaliers, Penn State would have to face a difficult foe in Louisiana Tech in Ruston, La. Penn State would eventually fall to the No. 1 seeded Techsters, 79-62, a loss that would not be forgotten.
The Lady Lions during the 1999 season finished with an impressive 22-8 record, including a 12-4 mark in Big Ten competition. The successful season would come to an end on March 14 that year though, with the loss to Louisiana Tech. However, that would not be the last the time the two foes would meet again.
"The loss to Louisiana Tech in 1999 was really tough for us," said former Lady Lion Andrea Garner, who netted 18 points and nine rebounds in the loss. "We knew we were capable of beating them, and that loss made us more motivated to go even further the next year."
Heading into the 2000 season, Penn State had very high expectations with a strong core of players returning. The 2000 team featured one WBCA All-American in Darling and five players who would score 1,000 points for their career, including Darling, Garner, Lisa Shepherd, Maren Walseth and Rashana Barnes. With a great deal of talent and a group of strong leaders, the Lady Lions knew they were destined to do great things during the 1999-00 season. The goal of the team was put in perspective though, as the group focused on going further than 1999, meaning making it at least to the Sweet 16.
"The expectations were to exceed what we did the previous year," said Walseth, who is currently an assistant coach for the Lady Lions. "That was the mentality my whole time as a player. We had to do better than we did last year and we have to keep up the building block effect."
The 2000 Final Four team was recently honored for the 10th anniversary of their Final Four run at the Pitt game. |
Prior to the 1999-00 season, Darling and Garner had the opportunity of playing in the World University Games, where they were led by their collegiate head coach in Rene Portland. This was essential in building a bond between the three heading into the 1999-00 season.
"[Playing at the World University Games] made our chemistry even better," said Garner. "We went through so much together. Playing with some the best collegiate players, Rene knew what we were capable of in leading the team the following year."
Penn State jumped out to a 3-0 start for the 1999-00 season with three big wins over Villanova, Maryland and St. Joseph's at the Ronald McDonald Classic hosted by Duke. The Lady Lions faced a tough test following the win over the Red Hawks, facing the Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Penn State would fall to 25th-ranked Duke, 63-49, in the championship game to drop to 3-1. Nearly one week later, they faced the No. 1 Connecticut Huskies at the Honda Elite Four Classic in Orlando, Fla. After falling to the Huskies, 87-74, the Lady Lions knew they had some work to do.
After the 4-2 start for Penn State, the team learned a lot from their two losses to quality opponents. Even though the competition was good, the team knew they had a lot to work on. In fact, Walseth said the team quickly made a goal after that stretch. It was determined by the Lady Lions that losing twice in one month was not good enough, no matter who the opponent was. Walseth stressed that from there on out, they knew they would have to play hard and the same way they were capable of every game.
"The first time we played Connecticut down in Florida, we played very well," said Walseth. "We were competitive and it was a good game. We needed to learn from that. They were the No. 1 team in the country at that time for a reason."
Following the Connecticut loss, the Lady Lions succeeded their goal as they went on to win the next 12 games, including wins over No. 6 Auburn, No. 12 Purdue and No. 12 Illinois at the time. The streak came to an end on Jan. 23, 2000 at Michigan State, but the wheels stayed on as they strung together another 10 consecutive victories through the Big Ten Tournament.
With a victory over Illinois on March 4 in Indianapolis, Ind. at the Big Ten Tournament, Penn State advanced to the Championship game to face Purdue. With the Lady Lions picked as the favorite to win, the conference was shocked as Purdue pulled off the 71-63 upset. Even though the loss was mentally draining, the players knew that there was a lot of basketball left to be played.
"A lot of the commentators said that was the reason for us not being a No. 1 seed," said Garner. "We knew our own strengths. Even though I wish we would've won the Big Ten, our season started right after that game."
With the players upset over their performance against Purdue, coach Portland took advantage of the spring break, which fell right in during the time of the conclusion of the Big Ten Tournament. Portland let the players travel home for five days to clear their heads before coming back and regrouping for the NCAA Tournament.
"I think the break that Rene gave us was really necessary," said Walseth. "We had a very successful conference season and we stood our foot. It was best that everyone went their separate ways and calmed down and regrouped. We did and we got back together and made another great three week run with basketball."
The break did indeed pay off as the Lady Lions took their 26-4 overall record and headed into lockdown mode for the NCAA Tournament. Penn State received the No. 2 seed and began their magical run with an 83-63 victory over Youngstown State in the opening round on March 17, 2000.
Following the win over Youngstown State, the Lady Lions knew they would have difficult road ahead of them from there. The next test was Auburn, who was looking for revenge after losing to Penn State earlier in the season. With a 75-69 victory over the Tigers, the Lady Lions faced another difficult foe in Iowa State, which finished the 1999-00 season ranked No. 10. In a nail-biter, the Lady Lions pulled it out, 66-65. Revenge was next on the slate as Penn State looked to send Louisiana Tech home in 2000, to avenge the season-ending loss to the Techsters in 1999.
Lisa Shepherd |
Penn State not only upset and beat the Techsters, the Lady Lions dominated, handing Louisiana Tech an 86-65 loss, Penn State's largest margin of victory of the tournament. The win gave the Lady Lions their first-ever berth into the Final Four. What made it even more special was the fact that Final Four was hosted by the city of Philadelphia, only a couple hours southeast of Happy Valley and home to several Lady Lions players and coaches.
"I think when they announced that the final four was going to be in Philadelphia, really early on we saw that as a perfect opportunity," said Shepherd. "Rene used to always say, `where do you want to play?' and we would always say `Phil-a-del-phi-a.' We started that from the get go."
With the hometown advantage, Penn State felt very confident heading into its semifinal matchup with Connecticut, the team that handed the Lady Lions their second loss early in the season. Even though Penn State suffered a loss to the Huskies earlier in the season, they were still confident in a victory.
"Going into the Final Four, it wasn't, `Oh no, it's UConn, we are going to get blown out,'" said Walseth. "We played them well in the first game and we improved over the course of the season and we're not scared. We competed with them earlier, so we looked at it as an opportunity to get another shot."
Even though Penn State lost to the Huskies in the semifinal, the Lady Lions will always cherish having the chance to play in the Final Four. At a recent gathering of the Final Four team to honor the 10-year anniversary of that Final Four team, they reflected.
"It was a great experience. As a little girl growing up I always watched the Women's Final Four," said Shepherd. "I went to a few of them and it was always a dream of mine. It was a really surreal experience. The whole time you felt that you were on cloud nine. It was really amazing."
"It was a fun experience," said Walseth. In college, reaching the Final Four is the pinnacle and that's what everyone is supposed to aspire to. Throughout the weekend down in Philadelphia there would be special things that happened. We would have a police escort to a game. Clearly that does not happen in State College or any other road game."