Feb. 13, 2014
Tickets! | Promotions | Lucas espnW Blog | LadyLions.com | Nominate for Hometown Hero
2014 NCAA Tournament First & Second Round Tickets | Vote for Maggie Lucas!
BLOOMINGTON, IND. - Senior guard Maggie Lucas (Narberth, Pa.) was 10-for-16 from the field and finished with a game-high 32 points as the #11/11 Penn State Lady Lions (19-5, 10-2 Big Ten) claimed a 71-63 win at Indiana (17-7, 4-7) Thursday night. With the win, Penn State ties the school record for Big Ten road wins in a season with its seventh victory. The victory also marked the fourth-straight 10-win conference season.
Lucas, who started 4-for-4 from the field, had the hot hand all night as she posted her seventh career 30-point game and third of the season. In addition to her four three-pointers, she was a perfect 8-for-8 from the charity stripe on the evening. Lucas completed her evening with six rebounds, two assists and two steals. Lucas becomes the 29th member of Penn State's 500-rebound club. Additionally, she is the only player in school history and just the sixth player in conference history to accumulate 2,000 points, 500 rebounds, 250 assists and 200 steals.
Senior guard/forward Ariel Edwards (Elmont, N.Y.) just missed out on a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds. Fellow senior guard Dara Taylor (Wilmington, Del.) added 12 points, eight assists, six rebounds and three steals for another solid outing.
The Lady Lions shot 50% from the field (26-52), 53.8% from long range (7-13) and 92.3% from the free throw line (12-13).
Lucas opened the game on a personal 7-0 run in the first two minutes, which forced the Hoosiers to call a timeout. Out of the timeout, Indiana surged with a 10-2 run to take a 10-9 lead with 15:35 remaining in the period. The Lady Lions responded with scores from Taylor and Edwards to establish a 13-10 lead with 14:22 left.
The Hoosiers would score six of the game's next nine points to even the score at 16-16 with 11:43 left. Penn State bounced back as Kaliyah Mitchell (Stone Mountain, Ga.) jump-started a run with a layup, followed by an old-fashioned three-point play by Taylor. After a score by the Hoosiers, Lucas hit two free throws, Edwards knocked down a three-pointer and Tori Waldner (Milton, Ga.) closed out the 12-2 run with a jumper to make it a 10-point Penn State lead (28-18) with 7:36 remaining.
Indiana fought back with a 9-2 run of its own to close within one possession at 30-27 with four minutes left. Taylor connected on a layup, Talia East (Philadelphia, Pa.) made two free throws and Peyton Whitted (Suwanee, Ga.) capped the 6-0 spurt with a 15-footer to make it a nine-point lead (36-27) with 1:24 on the clock. The Hoosiers scored four of the final five points of the half to send the teams into the break with Penn State holding a 37-31 lead.
Indiana came out firing in the second half as the Hoosiers clicked off a 9-0 run to open the frame and take a 41-37 lead with 16 minutes left. Alex Harris (Lorain, Ohio) got the Lions on the board in the second half with a layup to start an exchange of scores between the teams.
Lucas hit her third three-pointer of the game that started a 7-2 spurt that would put the Lions back in front, 48-47, with 11:37 to play. After a Nicole Bell three-pointer, Taylor hit a triple of her own, followed by five consecutive points by Edwards to make it a 56-50 Penn State lead with nine minutes remaining.
Following an IU bucket, Taylor, East and Lucas all converted on layups for a 6-1 Penn State run to give the Lady Lions a 62-53 lead with five minutes left. The Hoosiers scored the game's next four points to close within five (62-57) with less than four minutes remaining.
East took a nice feed from Edwards and converted on a baby hook and Lucas nailed her fourth three-pointer of the game to push the lead to 10 points (67-57) with 2:36 left. The Hoosiers scored six straight to close the gap, but Lucas sealed the win with four free throws in the final 39 seconds.
GAME NOTES: With two rebounds in the first half, Maggie Lucas reached the 500 rebound milestone for her Lady Lion career, becoming the first player in program history and sixth in Big Ten history with 2,000 points, 500 rebounds, 250 assists and 200 steals ... Lucas notched her third game of the season with 30 points or more and seventh of her career by pouring in 32 points ... Lucas also surpassed the 500-point mark for the season, becoming the third player in school history to score at least 500 points in each of their four seasons, joining Kelly Mazzante and Susan Robinson ... Lucas swiped two steals to total 219 in her career, passing Carol Walderman (217; 1981-83) for 12th place on the Penn State all-time list ... Lucas' first assist in the second half broke a tie for 16th place on the all-time Lady Lions' career assists list with Lisa Shepherd (263; 1998-01) ... With four makes from beyond the arc, Lucas moved into a tie for 14th place on the NCAA career three-point field goals made list with Georgetown's Sugar Rogers (346; 2010-13) with 346 over her four seasons as a Lady Lion ... After going a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line, Lucas passed Tanisha Wright (552; 2002-05) for sixth place on the program's all-time free throw attempts list ... With two blocks Talia East (90) moved to No. 10 on Penn State's career blocks chart passing Kathy Phillips (89) ... Dara Taylor scored 12 points to push her total at Penn State over the 500 mark with 505 ... Kaliyah Mitchell reached the 100-rebound milestone, collecting five boards to increase her career total to 102 ... The Lady Lions improve to 31-9 in the all-time series against Indiana ... Penn State has now won at least 10 Big Ten games in each of the last four seasons ... The win is the Blue and White's seventh conference road win of the season, tying the most in program history.
The 2014 Pink Zone at Penn State will take place on Sunday, Feb. 16 as the Lady Lions take on Wisconsin in the Bryce Jordan Center at 1 p.m. $4 of every single-game ticket sold will go directly to Pink Zone. There will be a silent auction on the concourse and postgame jersey auction of the Lions' game-worn jerseys. Last year, the Lady Lions donated a record $260,000 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.
Lady Lion Basketball single-game tickets are available by calling 1-800-NITTANY. Single-game 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.
For the 15th time, Penn State will host the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament First and Second Rounds on March 23 and 25, 2014. All-session tickets are $30 for adults and $17 for youth and students. There is also an all-session group rate for groups of 20 or more of any age at $20 per package. Fans can purchase tickets by calling 1-800-NITTANY or visiting the Penn State athletics ticket office between the hours of 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
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.