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No. 8/8 Lady Lions and Wisconsin Meet at the BJC Thursday

Jan. 15, 2013

Wisconsin Game Notes (1/17/13) | Watch | Listen |

Tickets! | Promotions | LadyLions.com

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. - The #8/8 Penn State Lady Lions (13-2, 3-0 Big Ten) continues its home stint against Wisconsin (8-9, 0-4) Thursday night at 7 p.m. Thursday marks the first of five senior class wind-up walker giveaways as the first 2,000 fans getting a Marisa Wolfe wind-up walker. Additionally, it is Dollar Dog Night for the Lady Lions.

PROMOTIONS: The Wisconsin game is a Dollar Dog Night for the Lady Lions.

GIVEAWAY: Thursday marks the first of the five senior class wind-up walker giveaways. The first 2,000 fans will get a Marisa Wolfe wind-up walker.

RADIO/LIVESTATS: The game is on the Penn State Sports Network and ESPN Radio 1450 locally with Jerry Fisher and Brian Tripp calling the action. A link to the audio feed and GameTracker are available at www.GoPSUsports.com.

TV REPLAY: The game will be replayed as a "Student U" broadcast on the Big Ten Network on Friday, Jan. 18 at 4:30 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT: The Lady Lions earned its second consecutive 20-plus point victory over a Big Ten opponent as they knocked off the RV/#23 Nebraska Cornhuskers on Sunday. Penn State has knocked off two-straight Big Ten teams by 20 or more points for the first time since 2005, when it topped Wisconsin (76-43; 2/17/05) and Northwestern (83-56; 2/20/05). Junior guard Maggie Lucas became the 13th Lady Lion to hit the 1,500-point plateau, as she chipped in 19 tallies to go along with three steals, two rebounds and two assists. Senior Alex Bentley also added 19 points, with three of those coming on a half-court buzzer beater to close out the first half. The point guard also added five steals, five rebounds and one assist in 32 minutes of action.

SCOUTING WISCONSIN: The Badgers are 8-9 on the year and 0-4 in conference play. Morgan Paige leads Wisconsin with a 15.9 scoring average to go along with 30 assists and 17 steals on the year. Jacki Gulczynski also accounts for double figures at 11.1 points per game, while Cassie Rochel leads the team with 7.6 rebounds per game. The Badgers are without senior Taylor Wurtz, who was averaging 12.6 points and 7.0 rebounds, after a season-ending back injury.

ALL-TIME VS. THE BADGERS: The Lady Lions are 27-10 all-time against Wisconsin. Penn State is 16-2 in home games versus the Badgers, but is just 2-2 in the last four contests played at the BJC against UW. Penn State swept the season series last year with an 82-49 win in Madison (Jan. 2) and a 69-54 at home (Feb. 9).

LAST TIME VS. UW: The Lady Lions connected on 48.3% of their shots and landed four players in double figures on the way to a 69-54 home win over Wisconsin Feb. 9. Maggie Lucas led the Lady Lions with 16 points via a 7-for-11 shooting performance. Alex Bentley had 14 points to go along with three assists, while Ariel Edwards was a spark off of the bench with 14 points thanks to a 6-for-10 night from the field. Mia Nickson rounded out Penn State's top scorers with 11 tallies to go with seven rebounds.

20-POINT BIG TEN WINS: With a 76-55 win over Michigan State Jan. 6 and an 80-58 victory over Nebraska Jan. 13, the Lady Lions earned back-to-back Big Ten wins of 20 or more points for the first time since the 2004-05 season. In that season, the Lady Lions topped Wisconsin (76-43; 2/17/05) and Northwestern (83-56; 2/20/05).

PICKING UP Ws IN THE BJC: With the win over Nebraska Jan. 13, the Lady Lions extended their home court winning streak to 14 games, which is tied for the sixth-longest active streak in NCAA Division I and the ninth-longest streak in school history. The Lady Lions last lost at home Jan. 7, 2012 to Michigan State.

AB CLIMBS ANOTHER SCORING RUNG: Senior point guard Alex Bentley tallied 19 points against Nebraska Jan. 13 and in the process, moved into 11th place on Penn State's career scoring list, passing Vicki Link (1,514; 1984-87). Bentley has 1,525 career points and needs 13 tallies to move into the Top 10 in Lady Lion history, the 10th spot is occupied by Tanya Garner (1,538; 1988-91).

LUCAS PASSES 1,500: Junior guard Maggie Lucas surpassed the 1,500-point plateau for her career with 19 markers against Nebraska Jan. 13. Accomplishing the feat in 82 games, she is the third-fastest player in school history to reach the 1,500-point mark behind Kelly Mazzante (68 games) and Susan Robinson (80 games).

BIG TEN START: With an 80-58 win over Nebraska Jan. 13, the Lady Lions moved to 3-0 in conference play. It was the first time since the 2004-05 season that Penn State has won it's first three games. The 2004-05 squad opened league play with a 7-0 mark.

LUCAS MOVING UP BIG TEN THREES LIST: With four three-pointers against Nebraska Jan. 13, junior guard Maggie Lucas moved into a tie for sixth place on the Big Ten history in three-pointers list. She is tied with Northwestern's Michele Ratay (244; 1994-97). Lucas needs four triples to tie Wisconsin's Jolene Anderson (248; 2005-08) for fifth place. PSU's Kelly Mazzante holds the Big Ten record with 357 makes from beyond the arc.

The Lady Lions travel Michigan for a Monday night contest that will air on BTN at 6:30 p.m. before returning home to meet Minnesota on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Fans can get their second of five senior wind-up walkers at the gates. The Minnesota game is also Penn State Faculty/Staff night where PSU faculty and staff can get a buy one, get one free ticket offer. Additionally, it will be AT&T Night and AT&T customers that show their bill or cell phone will get a buy one, get one free ticket offer. Go to www.GoPSUsports.com/promotions/wbb.html for complete promotions information.

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). 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.