Feb. 14, 2016
By Mike Gilbert, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - With 50 seconds remaining in the first half against Ohio State Sunday afternoon, Penn State was in danger of heading into halftime down double digits, but guard Lindsey Spann was playing too well to let that happen. Spann drove to her left into traffic and kissed it off the glass with that left hand to put her team within five. From there, it would be a fight until the finish, with the Buckeyes pulling out the win, 77-63, Sunday afternoon.
Spann was impressive throughout, dropping 21 points and going 4-7 from behind the arc. She was also very impressive playing defense at the top of the key, communicating well at the top the 2-3 zone.
"I thought Lindsey did a really good job at the top of the zone and trying to slow them down so they didn't get many transition points, so she was good at the top of the zone along with what she did on offense," said head coach Coquese Washington.
One could hear the communication all the way from the top of the stands in press row, as Spann and the other players were constantly calling out screens and defensive schemes to help each other get into sync.
"As a team we know what we're capable of, so every night we're coming out focused on defense and being aggressive and that's something we've been working on," said Spann.
Spann acknowledged her good day shooting from the field, but was more upset with the outcome.
"I was shooting when I was open, and I took advantage of areas where I thought there was good opportunities, it doesn't matter. We lost, and I don't like to lose."
Yet after a win on the road against 15/17th ranked Michigan State, and a tight loss to a top ten team in Ohio State, things are trending upward for Washington's team, and she feels the club starting to gel.
"I thought it was a good week for us in terms of how we played, how we competed against two of the best teams in the country, so certainly I think we're moving in the right direction."
"It doesn't happen overnight. Again, this is a team that we've had pretty much since conference play and it has taken us the entire conference season to develop our rhythm and chemistry, trust and communication. I've seen this in practice. I'm just happy now that it's starting to show up on game day," added Washington.
Penn State went with a small lineup for most of the game, with Spann, Teniya Page and Brianna Banks each playing at least 38 minutes. All of the guards reached double digits in scoring, with Page adding five assists. The Buckeyes hit 13 threes on the other side of the floor, making it challenging for Penn State to hang tough, but that's exactly what the team did, as it was a one-point game with under eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
Penn State (9-16, 4-10) will play its next two on the road, first at Northwestern on Wednesday whom they defeated earlier in conference play, then in Ann Arbor three days later to play Michigan who beat the Lady Lions in a nail-biter in January.
The most important thing to take away from the Ohio State game is certainly Penn State's ability to fight and keep itself in games, as that is a good trait for a team to have so close to the Big Ten Tournament.