Jan. 20, 2014
By Tyler Feldman, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - It's not how you start; it's how you finish.
No. 17/16 Penn State (13-4, 4-1 Big Ten) lived by those words during Sunday night's road contest against Big Ten opponent Michigan State (12-6, 4-1 Big Ten) as the Lady Lions used a second half surge to top the Spartans, 66-54.
Down seven points at the half, head coach Coquese Washington's adjustments in the locker room subsequently led to her Lady Lions outscoring the Spartans 39-20 in the second half en route to a challenging win away from home.
"In the second half, especially in the first ten or twelve minutes of the half, we really limited their transition opportunities," said Washington. "That allowed us to set our defense and make them play against our half-court defense. That really was helpful for us."
Senior Dara Taylor headed the comeback for Penn State. The quick-footed guard tallied 12 of her Game-high 18 points in the second half to lead the Blue and White to the come-from-behind win.
"We shored some things up defensively, specifically in transition," said Taylor. "They got a lot of points out of transition in the first half, so we really focused on that and just execute offensively [in the second half]. Early on we were shooting a little too quickly, so we moved the ball to get to our second and third options and get some easy buckets."
Taylor, who registered 10 points from the free throw line over the course of the contest, was spot on about bearing down defensively in the second frame.
In the first half, Penn State allowed Michigan State to shoot 41.4% (12-of-29) from the field and 38.5% (5-of-13) from beyond the 3-point arc, leading to a halftime lead for the Spartans, 34-27.
"Defensively, we were just not matching up in transition," said Washington. "I felt like in the first half, we did a fair job of defending them in man-to-man. I felt like we had done a fair job of defending them in the half-court, but we had given them too many baskets in transition."
In the final 20 minutes of play Penn State showed a crowd of 9,232 fans inside the Breslin Center in East Lansing just how dominant they could be on the defensive side of the ball.
The Lady Lions held the Spartans to a paltry 23.5% (8-of-34) from the field and they didn't connect from downtown on six attempts to outscore Michigan State by 19 points in the frame.
"I thought if we could shore up some things defensively, if we could find our rhythm on offense and get some baskets in transition then we would be okay and that kind of happened for us the second half," said Washington.
Not only did Penn State tighten their play up defensively, but they also exhibited a well-balanced offensive attack to couple their strong second half defense.
Senior forward Ariel Edwards scored 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting and roped in six rebounds. She managed to keep the deficit at only seven at halftime by scoring 11 of her points in the first 20 minutes of play.
"She's super versatile," said teammate Taylor. "She is a very tough matchup for a lot of defenses. She can push in transition, she can finish, she can shoot the jump shot, post up, and she can defend [everyone on the floor]. I think her confidence is continuing to grow. I think we are seeing that game in and game out."
Maggie Lucas added 16 more points for the Lady Lions, and freshman guard/forward Kaliyah Mitchell got into the action by notching six points and a career-high 10 boards.
"We are a young team, so coming in here we told them it was going to be a tough environment," said Taylor. "So coming in here and getting a win like this...it was a great win for us."
The Lady Lions will look to extend their winning streak to three games when they return to action at the Bryce Jordan Center Wednesday, January 22 at 7 p.m. against Big Ten foe Indiana.