March 27, 2013
BATON ROUGE, La. - Sports can be a cruel thing sometimes and on Tuesday night inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center fate dealt the No. 8 Penn State Lady Lion a cruel defeat.
It was almost a full calendar year ago - 359 days to be exact - when most of these same Lady Lion players celebrated in front of LSU as they advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. On this night, however, the Tigers got their revenge and marched on to Spokane, Wash. for a date with Cal in the round of 16.
It wasn't really anything that Penn State did wrong, either. They just ran into a motivated group, on their home floor, in front of a passionate fan base.
"I felt like we really played hard," said Edwards. "The effort was there, but there were some things we needed to be sharper on. It's disappointing, but we can use this as a learning tool for next year and pass along those lessons to the new girls coming in for next season."
That effort really showed on the floor, too. This was probably the best game that the Lady Lions played as a unit all season. They shared the ball well, forced LSU to play at their pace, at times, and were played well on the offensive end, even with Maggie Lucas limited to just two made field goals.
That effort wasn't enough to keep the tears away after the game in the locker room and or take the lump out of head coach Coquese Washington's throat when she was asked about her senior class.
"Our seniors have given so much to this program," said Washington, "they have given so much to their teammates. They are the reason that we we're in this position and we were able to reestablish Penn State as one of the elite programs. It was on the backs of Nikki Greene, Mia Nickson, Gizelle Studevent, Marisa Wolfe and Alex Bentley that we were able to [rebuild this program]."
One can only imagine what was going through those five seniors minds as the final seconds ticked off the clocks, but Ariel Edwards, who had one of her best games of the season, summed up her thoughts on the seniors in a fitting way.
"Our senior class was filled with people who are natural born leaders," said Edwards. "All of them have pushed me to become better, all of them have pushed the younger players to become better and they played their hearts out tonight...we are going to miss them."
Inspirational, heart and soul and dedicated were just some of the words that teammates used to describe the five seniors who came to Penn State when the program was in the midst of four straight losing seasons.
Senior Mia Nickson |
This group played a major role in this rebirth from the minute they stepped on campus and did it because they loved what Penn State stands for and cared for one and other.
"We worked really hard to get here," said senior Mia Nickson. "The last four years have been great, starting from where we were until now, of course we wanted it to end better and it's going to be hard to swallow, this being our last game and everything, but we wish the team great success, and we're looking forward to what they're going to do next year."
Next year is in front of the six returners, but we have to look at where the script began to appreciate what the five seniors have done.
They arrived after an 11-18 campaign and promptly righted the ship with a 17-14 season. That placed them sixth in the Big Ten and earned a berth into the WNIT, but as a great storyteller would say; it's not always about how you begin the story, it's the ending that people will remember.
After bowing out in the opening round of the WNIT to Hofstra as rookies, this group took the Big Ten by storm and pushed the Lady Lions back into the national spotlight.
A second place finish in the Big Ten and an appearance in the second round of the NCAA Tournament as sophomores was just a preheating.
The Lady Lions really started cooking with gas, to steal an expression from Bob Hope, in 2011-12 when they captured the programs first Big Ten title in eight years and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen with a win on the same floor their season ended on tonight.
The second straight Big Ten crown was earned this season, cementing this group's legacy, but they meant so much more just accolades and victories.
"The spirit of these five senior will resonate in this program," said Washington. "[Our seniors] are women of character and women courage. They came to Penn State to reestablish a tradition...I couldn't be prouder of them."
In the end, it was a great basketball game, minus the final results, between two teams that took each other's best shots. They traded scoring runs, defensive stops and big shot after big shot, but LSU was able to score when it mattered most.
That is something that will have to stick with the six returners on next year's team as they head into the offseason.
"I hope that everyone remembers this and how hard it was to get here." said Edwards. "That is the one thing that we need to take with us from this game."
--LADY LIONS--