March 5, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -
HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. - Battling to the last second, Penn State fell, 68-65, to Indiana in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament on Wednesday night.
The Lady Lions and the Hoosiers took turns getting numbers on the board for a high-energy and aggressive start, an energy that lasted all 40 minutes.
"We're a very competitive team. So we always come out fighting, and we're going to fight to the end, whether win or lose," said sophomore Sierra Moore.
The Lady Lions did just that with less than a minute left in the first half, a clutch Alex Harris layup followed by a Peyton Whitted jumper cut Indiana's lead to seven (38-31).
When the second half begun, it was clear that both teams were going to leave everything out on the court. An exciting half followed as Penn State answered back, bringing the difference within two with a minute left in the game.
Unable to execute, Penn State attacked to the very last second as Indiana found a momentum that brought the final score to 68-63.
Sierra Moore led the Lady Lions with 18 points, notching her 21st game with a double-figure performance. She shot 9-for-13 and dished out six assists. Fellow sophomore, Kahliyah Mitchell got hot in the second half to snatch her fourth double-double this season, grabbing 10 rebounds and 13 points against the Hoosiers.
Fourty-four of Penn State points were made in the paint, 14 of which by Candice Agee.
"I think that it was something that we know to do and something that we've found that is we get better shots off in the paint," said Candace Agee. "So not that it was a surprise to me. Something that we work on, something that we try to focus on doing is getting the ball inside and out."
Using their size as an advantage, Penn State outrebounded Indiana 40-29, eight of which were pulled down by 6-foot-5 Tori Waldner.
Waldner closed out her senior season by becoming the 31st member of the 500-rebound club.
"There's certainly a lot of learning, a lot of lessons that we'll take away from this season, this game, the Big Ten Conference play, said head coach Coquese Washington. "We've got the majority of the team coming back next year. So a lot of these lessons and the growth we saw over the course of the season is something we'll build."
This young team will do just that as they continue to build for next year.