Nov. 9, 2012
Howard Game Notes (11/11/12)| | BTN.com
Tickets! | Promotions | LadyLions.com
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. - The eighth-ranked Penn State Lady Lions will honor their 2012 Big Ten Championship team and then begin their 2012-13 campaign against Howard on Sunday, Nov. 11 at 2 p.m., in the Bryce Jordan Center. The Lady Lions will raise their 2012 Big Ten Championship banner pregame and fans will receive a replica banner, while supplies last. Additionally, Sunday is Veterans Day and the Lady Lions will honor our Military members with Military Appreciation Day where fans that show their military ID will get four (4) free tickets and can purchase additional tickets for $5 each.
PROMOTIONS: The Lady Lions will raise their 2012 Big Ten Championship banner pregame. The game is also Military Appreciation Day where fans that show their military ID will get four (4) free tickets and can purchase additional tickets for $5 each. It is also a Subway Full Court 4-Pack where fans will receive four reserved game tickets and one voucher for four 6" subs and four 21 oz. fountain drinks at any of the seven State College Subway locations for just $40!
GIVEAWAY: Fans will receive a replica Big Ten Championship banner at the gates.
LAST TIME OUT: The eighth-ranked Penn State Lady Lions defeated California (Pa.), led by Lady Lion legend Jess Strom, by a score of 95-39 in an exhibition contest on Nov. 3. Junior guard Maggie Lucas led the way for Penn State with 19 points, while senior Nikki Greene posted a double-double. Greene scored 15 of her 18 points in the second half and added 11 boards in just 21 minutes of action.
SCOUTING HOWARD: The Bison are the preseason favorite to win the MEAC after posting a 24-9 overall record and 14-2 mark in conference play a year ago. Leading the Bison are seniors Saadia Doyle, who is the MEAC Preseason Player of the Year, and Tamoria Holmes, a preseason All-MEAC first team choice. Doyle averaged 17.1 points and a team-best 8.6 rebounds last season, while Holmes paced Howard with an 18.3 scoring average. The Bison open their 2012-13 season at St. Francis (Pa.) on Friday night.
ALL-TIME VS. THE BISON: The Lady Lions are 2-0 all-time against Howard, but haven't met the Bison since the 1989-90 season. Penn State picked up an 82-44 home win on Dec. 2, 1980 and a 107-69 neutral site win on Nov. 26, 1989. The Lady Lions are a perfect 6-0 all-time against MEAC schools.
LAST TIME VS. HOWARD: The last time these squads squared off was in the consolation round of the Amana-Hawkeye Classic in Iowa City on Nov. 26, 1989. Susan Robinson earned a double-double against the Bison with 30 points and 11 rebounds.
GREENE HITS THE STARTS CENTURY MARK: Senior center Nikki Greene will make her 100th career start against the Bison on Nov. 11. The Diboll, Texas native has started every game in her career and will have a chance to break Kelly Mazzante's school record of 130 starts. Greene will be the 11th player in school history with 100 career starts.
MAGS IN THE ESPNW BLOGOSPHERE: Junior guard Maggie Lucas is a weekly contributing blogger for espnW. Lucas will be blogging about various topics all year long. Her blogs can be found at espn.go.com/espnw/blog/category/maggie-lucas/.
BENTLEY SENIOR CLASS AWARD CANDIDATE: Senior guard Alex Bentley has been selected as one of the 30 candidates for the 2012-13 Senior CLASS Award, given to the student-athletes that have notable achievements in four areas of excellence - community, classroom, character and competition. Midway through the year, the 10 finalists will be announced and give media, coaches and fans the opportunity to vote on the student-athletes the exemplifies the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School ®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
TEAM CAPTAINS: Seniors Alex Bentley, Mia Nickson and Marisa Wolfe will serve as team captains for the 2012-13 season. Nickson will serve in the captain role for the third consecutive season, while Wolfe is a captain for the second-straight season. Bentley claims her first team captain honor.
BENTLEY IN THE RECORD BOOKS: Senior guard Alex Bentley opens her senior season in the Top 15 in the Penn State record books in several categories. The Indianapolis native enters her final year in the blue and white 15th in scoring (1,335), 10th in assists (455), 12th in steals (216) and 10th in field goals attempted (1,245).
LUCAS LOADS UP IN RECORD BOOKS: Despite only being a junior, Maggie Lucas has etched her name into the Penn State record books in a short amount of time. The guard enters her junior year 25th in career scoring (1,194), third in all-time three-point field goals made (194), third in career three-point field goal percentage (.419) and sixth in career three-point field goals attempted (463). Lucas also sits atop Penn State's all-time free throw percentage list with an .881 mark (236-268) from the free throw line.
GREENE GOING FOR 1,000s: Senior center Nikki Greene will have a shot at becoming just the fourth player in school history to be a part of an elite club with 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. The Diboll, Texas native needs 161 points to reach the 1,000-point mark and 277 rebounds for 1,000 career caroms. Greene would need to average 5.4 points and 9.2 rebounds in a 30-game season to accomplish the milestone. The members of the 1,000-1,000 club are Susan Robinson (2,253-1,070), Kahadeejah Herbert (2,025-1,103) and Andrea Garner (1,619-1,016).
STRONG SENIOR CLASS: Coquese Washington's first Top 25 recruiting class is now the Lady Lions' senior class. The grouping of Alex Bentley, Nikki Greene, Mia Nickson, Gizelle Studevent and Marisa Wolfe have been huge contributors in Penn State's return to national prominence. The quintet has accounted for 3,122 points and 1,695 rebounds with 255 starts in 420 games. Last season, the five seniors accounted for 45.1% of the team's offense and 44.9% of its rebounds.
The Lady Lions travel to #15/12 Texas A&M on Wed., Nov. 14 before returning home to face Lafayette on Sunday, Nov. 18 at 2 p.m. for Kids Day and YMCA Day. Kids will take over the BJC by partaking in various jobs on game day and the Lady Lions will host a kids clinic postgame for kids that register by emailing their information (names and ages) to psuladylions@gmail.com by Saturday, Nov. 17. YMCA members can show their card at the ticket office on game day and can get $5 off per ticket. Additionally, fans that show their ticket from the Penn State-Indiana football game will receive a buy one ticket, get one free offer for the day. The Lady Lions are also helping the Penn State football team Stuff the Blue Bus for the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank and will offer fans that bring a canned good to the game a $5 ticket.
Single game tickets for the Lady Lions are on sale now. Tickets are $15 and $12 for adults and seniors and $9 and $7 for youth (12 and younger). Lady Lion Basketball season tickets are still available by calling 1-800-NITTANY. Season tickets are $99 for adults and $50 for youth (12 and under), this includes a Nittany Lion Kids Club Membership for 2012-13. The PNC Flex Books are available again this year for $99. The Flex Book gives fans 12 vouchers, 10 that can be redeemed in any combination for Nittany Lion and Lady Lion Basketball tickets throughout the year and two extra vouchers for the Nittany Lions' Coaches Vs. Cancer game and the Lady Lions' Pink Zone game.
The 2013 Pink Zone at Penn State will take place on Sunday, Feb. 24 as the Lady Lions take on Michigan in the Bryce Jordan Center. Last year, the Lady Lions donated a record $203,000 to breast cancer causes. This year's fundraising efforts will benefit the Mount Nittany Medical Center, Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute, Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition, the Kay Yow Cancer Fund, J.C. Blair Memorial Hospital and Lewistown Hospital. For more information on the Pink Zone at Penn State, visit the official Pink Zone website at www.pennsylvaniapinkzone.org.
The Lady Lions are on Twitter. Follow sports information contact Kris Petersen (@ladylionsid) and the Lady Lions and coaches (@pennstatewbb) to get the inside scoop. The Lady Lions are also on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pennstateladylions.