March 23, 2013
By Mike Esse, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
BATON ROUGE, La.- The Lady Lions are back in the tournament for the third straight year and will play in Baton Rouge, La. for the second straight year. Before Sunday's game, let's take a look at a few storylines headed into the first round.
Seeding Won't Determine Outcome
It's well documented how close the Lady Lions may have been to getting a No. 2 seed in the tournament rather than the three seed they were given, but it has been equally noted to the Penn State players that it doesn't matter.
Last year, Penn State made it to the Sweet 16 as a four seed and this year as a three seed, the approach doesn't change.
"We thought we were going to be a two or a three [seed], but it is what it is," said junior guard Maggie Lucas. "You still have to win six games to get to the championship, that doesn't change due to your seed."
Experienced Tournament Team
In 2012, no Lady Lion had made it out of the first round of the NCAA Tournament and they weren't familiar with what it would take to make a deep run. Now, every player on the Penn State roster has tournament experience, except for true freshman Candice Agee.
"My freshman year no one had been to an NCAA tournament yet and now it's become part of the culture again to be in the NCAA tournament every year," said Lucas. "Candice is our only freshman and the only one that hasn't been to one, but we're going to make sure she's prepared for it and you just have to take it like any other game: one game at a time."
Not only have the Lady Lions have tournament experience, but they have experience winning in Baton Rouge, La. and the environment they are headed into with a possible matchup against LSU on its home court.
"It helps that we have the experience under our belt, it's always good and it always helps," said senior guard Alex Bentley. "We have been there and we have played in Baton Rouge, so we are ready to go."
On top of that, the Lady Lions have seen and played one of the perennial NCAA tournament squads in Connecticut twice in the past year, including last year's Sweet Sixteen matchup.
Lucas said that by playing Connecticut and being able to go against a team that has made it to a Final Four reminds her team exactly what they need to do to be able to make a run.
Matchups, Matchups, Matchups
Cal Poly, LSU and Green Bay are all teams that the Lady Lions could play in the coming weeks and are all teams that they aren't familiar with.
Now, instead of being able to have days to game plan and prepare, it all comes down to matchups.
"The NCAA Tournament is all about matchups," said Lucas. "Game by game, the teams with the advantages are the teams that have better matchups. That's the great thing about the NCAA's, you get to play against people you haven't played against and wouldn't play against all year."
Lucas sees this as an advantage after another grueling season in the Big Ten.
"Especially coming out of the Big Ten where everybody scouts you to death and you know each other so well, so now we are excited to play new teams."
LSU is the only team in the Spokane Region outside of conference foe Michigan that Penn State has played within the last two seasons and the Lady Lions would only see the eighth seeded Wolverines in the Elite Eight.
As for preparing themselves for the tournament, Washington said that not much is changed, it's just making small adjustments here and there. No matter who Penn State may play throughout the course of the tournament, Washington wants her team to focus on the only thing they can control: themselves.
"We don't do a lot different, a lot of it is sharpening what we do," said Washington. "We are who we are at this point and we play how we play, so it's not a lot of changing or adding things, it's just sharpening your skills and getting ready to take your opponent's best [effort].
"We have just been focusing on what we need to do, focusing on ourselves."
Used to Responding From a Loss
The last time Penn State was on the court they fell to Michigan State in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament. The last time Penn State dropped back-to-back games this year? Never.
In fact, the Lady Lions haven't been on a two game losing streak since Feb. 24 2011 when they fell to Ohio State and Purdue in back-to-back contests. Washington and her team don't plan on breaking that trend any time soon.
"After every loss this year we were able to go back in the gym and fine tune some stuff and keep our poise because we all know we have a mission and want to accomplish that mission," said senior center Nikki Greene.
Since that loss, Penn State has had 15 days, its longest layoff this season, to prepare for its first round matchup with Cal Poly.
After having a few days off after the Michigan State game, the Lady Lions have used each and every day to get to where they want to be come Sunday.
"That is one thing we do a good job of is moving forward," said Washington. "We don't worry about what happened yesterday whether it is a great win or a disappointing loss. They have that confidence to go out and play with a sense of urgency."
--NITTANY LIONS--