Feb. 11, 2016
By ANNA PITINGOLO, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - As the end of the season gets closer and closer, the Lady Lions are entering the part of the season where they will be facing opponents for the second time around.
The Lady Lions travel to East Lansing to take on Michigan State tonight at 6:30 p.m. and will try to avenge the 71-55 loss they suffered at the beginning of January. After that, three of their five remaining games will be against opponents they've already faced this year.
Head coach Coquese Washington and her staff have been evaluating the teams' performance in the first matchup to determine what went wrong and what went right.
"You look at what went well the first time, what areas of improvement we need to see from the first time, and then also looking at what they have been doing since we've played them," Washington said. "Are they doing some different things, have they added some stuff, doing some things maybe a little less than they did the first time?"
It's been over a month since the Lady Lions and Spartans first met, so both teams have had a substantial amount of time to get better and get more experience for younger players. So while Penn State has been improving their game in that time, Michigan State has been, too.
"It's been a while since we played them so it's almost like scouting them for the first time," Washington said. "It's been so long in between games that they've had quite a bit of time to adjust things and change some things. But there's some familiarity, especially for some of the younger kids, Teniya, Ashanti, they've seen the team, they've played them so they kind of have a little bit of familiarity with the personnel and what they're like."
Junior Peyton Whitted remembers the first Michigan State game well, and knows that the team has a lot to improve on before tip at the Breslin Center. A big focus in practice has been working on boxing out and grabbing rebounds. When Michigan State traveled to Happy Valley in January, the Spartans outrebounded Penn State 50-35.
"They're a really good rebounding team, we got outrebounded so we just really have to pound them on the boards," Whitted said. "Their posts are very strong and big, they run the floor very well and they have really good guard play. So we just really have to be aggressive with them and be aggressive with their post players and box them out."
While playing a team a second time may seem like it has its positives, it comes with its challenges as well. Teams don't want to go into the game expecting one thing and seeing something completely different, so focusing on the team itself and not previous games is a must.
"I think it's harder facing the team the second time, whether you beat them or you lost to them." junior Kaliyah Mitchell said. "You played them one time so you kind of know each other's strengths and weaknesses so going into playing them another time, we just have to key in on some of the things that we've been doing great and try to make those things better and try to pull out some wins this second half."
Both Whitted and Mitchell agree that, despite the challenges, it's a plus being able to face the same team twice.
"It helps that we have played them, we know what to expect," Whitted said. "Right now we just have to look at if they've added anything new to what they've been doing, but the preparation's the same and it helps as far as personnel because we know who we're playing against and what they do, and it's better to see it a second time around."