Feb. 25, 2016
By ANNA PITINGOLO, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Candice Agee to Brianna Banks dish-and-score in the fourth quarter may not have looked like anything special, but to the seniors, it put an exclamation point on their last game at the Bryce Jordan Center.
Agee and Banks led the Lady Lions to an 81-68 win over Iowa (17-12, 7-10 Big Ten) Wednesday on Senior Night, where they, along with three managers, were honored in a pregame ceremony.
The duo made the most of their night, combining for 38 points and eight steals. But it was the layup by Banks in the final minutes that was the most meaningful stat for both of them.
"I love when we have our interactions and stuff like that because it makes it special for the fans and everything," Agee said in an enthusiastic postgame press conference. "You get a great pass, a great assist or a great rebound and then you get to do a little point to each other and that's awesome."
"I feel like the whole game, we were vibing, so that was just another pass, another point to make this night even better," Banks added.
From start to finish, Agee and Banks were the stars of the show for Penn State (11-17, 6-11 Big Ten). They combined for the first 11 points before another Lady Lion was able to get a basket. And while early foul trouble forced Banks to sit out for chunks at a time, she made the most of the 23 minutes that she played.
"I'm good for at least two charges a game so that's not shocking," joked Banks before getting more serious. "The last one I fouled because I don't like giving up layups and I'm intentional about that, so it wasn't emotions. Learning to be smart with fouls is something that I need to face, but it wasn't emotions, it was just dumb mistakes that I made."
Agee posted 21-points on the night, tying her career-high for the third time. The career outing was something Agee had almost expected of herself, seeing as she always plays her best basketball in front of her dad. And with Rodney Agee having flown in from her home state of California to watch his daughter play at the BJC one final time, Agee knew it was going to be a big night before it even happened.
"There's something about [my parents] being in the crowd that makes me want to go above and beyond and that's what they do for me," Agee said." I keep trying to tell [my dad] he just needs to quit his job and follow me around; I'd be an MVP."
The center tacked on one block and three steals to her career night, and topped her previous high of six free throws by sinking seven.
"It didn't surprise me at all tonight," said head coach Coquese Washington. "I know that Candice is capable of having big games and she's certainly capable of being a big impact player, so it didn't surprise me that she was able to have the night that she did. I'm really happy for her, that she was able to close out her career with a game like this; it's something she'll remember for the rest of her life."
Despite the victory, both Banks and Agee agreed that it wasn't the best game of basketball that the team had played this season. Citing that they blew a 25-point lead in the third quarter, the team knows that they have to play their best if they want the coveted first round bye in the Big Ten Tournament next week.
"This win is helpful with the rankings, of course, in the Big Ten Tournament," Banks said. "We're constantly talking about playing Thursday and not Wednesday and not playing five games in a row, so this game meant a lot with our rankings in the tournament."
When both seniors were subbed out of the game for good in the final seconds, the Jordan Center gave each a standing ovation. Washington was happy with how the two ended their careers at home, and couldn't have asked for anything more from them.
"They both played the way you hope seniors play in their last home game," Washington said. "The emotion of a senior's final home game, it can go one of two ways; they can have that energy and it can propel them to having a fantastic game like these guys did, or sometimes the emotions can overwhelm you and you're not on your game. So I was really happy to see that both Candice and Bri played really good games."