Feb. 11, 2017
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Despite recording season-best scores on the final three events of the meet for the second-straight week, the Penn State women's gymnastics team (5-3, 2-3 Big Ten) fell short to the No. 18 Ohio State Buckeyes (6-2, 3-2 Big Ten), 195.950-195.850, Saturday inside Rec Hall.
"It was a great crowd, a great night," head coach Jeff Thompson said. "Unfortunately, both teams lost to Ohio State. We dug ourselves a pretty good hole starting off on vault. We only have five kids that can vault and we tried a little bit too hard. Ohio State beat us by five and a half-tenths in the vault event alone. We came back to make it a one-tenth meet at the very end. The kids showed a lot of fight, they never quit and I'm super proud of them. We put up great scores on bars and floors to end the meet. We just need to get a little bit better and get a little more depth back going into the last half of this season."
Individually for the Nittany Lions, junior Briannah Tsang (Vancouver, British Columbia) tied for the all-around title with a season-best 39.400, while sophomore Sabrina Garcia (Etters, Pa.) and senior Nicole Medvitz (Paramus, N.J.) tied for the balance beam title (9.875).
As a team, Penn State recorded season-best scores on the uneven bars, the balance beam and the floor exercise. The Nittany Lions began the meet with a 48.375 on the vault, followed by a 49.225 on the uneven bars, a 48.975 on the balance beam and a 49.275 on the floor exercise.
On the vault for the Nittany Lions during the first rotation, senior Emma Sibson (Allen, Texas) posted a 9.825 to place second and Tsang opened the meet with a 9.775 to tie for third-place.
For Penn State on the uneven bars, Garcia and Tsang paced the Blue & White as they each tallied a 9.900 to tie for second-place. Along with Garcia and Tsang on the uneven bars, freshman Kristen Politz (Morganville, N.J.) posted a 9.825 to tie for sixth-place.
On the balance beam, Garcia and Medvitz tied for the event title as they both recorded a 9.875. For Garcia, she tallied her first career balance beam title, while Medvitz captured her fourth balance beam title of the season and the 11th of her Nittany Lion career. Tsang also finished third on the balance beam with a 9.825.
Ohio State led the Nittany Lions, 147.350-146.575, with one rotation remaining.
The final rotation featured all six Nittany Lions tallying a 9.800 or better on the floor exercise.
Politz led off the floor exercise lineup with a 9.800, followed by a 9.825 by sophomore Peyton Schuller (Erie, Pa.), and a 9.850 by Garcia. The Nittany Lions closed out the floor exercise rotation with three season-best performances, as junior Oni Timothy (Rochester, N.Y.) tallied a 9.850, Sibson recorded a 9.850, and Tsang anchored the Nittany Lions with a 9.900.
With the lead heading into the final rotation, Ohio State was able to hold off the Nittany Lions with a 48.600 on the balance beam during the final rotation.
The Nittany Lions head to Denton, Texas, to compete against Sacramento State, Texas Woman's University and Western Michigan in a quad meet on Feb. 19. The meet is slated for a 1 p.m. (CST) start at the Kitty Magee Arena.