Lady Lions Win In Wake of Loss

Story posted January 22, 2012 in CommRadio, Sports by Patrick Woo

Sporting black bands on the shoulders of their uniforms, the No. 22 Penn State Lady Lions (15-4, 5-2 Big Ten) used a 20-2 run to beat Iowa (11-9, 3-4) Saturday in the Bryce Jordan Center.

There was a moment of silence before the game in memory of former Penn State football coach, Joe Paterno, who died earlier that morning.

The Lady Lions were down 50-48 with 6:32 remaining before scoring 15 unanswered points to win 68-52.

Iowa hit just 1-of-13 shots in the final six minutes of the game and were out rebounded 16 to 3.

“We self destructed and Penn State took advantage of it,” said Iowa coach Lisa Bluder.

Penn State dominated on the boards with 20 total offensive rebounds to Iowa’s five. Lady Lions junior center Nikki Greene had 13 rebounds (eight offensive).

“Our posts were dominating the paint,” Lady Lions point guard Alex Bentley said. “My teammates pretty much opened the floor for me.”

Bentley had a game-high 21 points with a career-high seven rebounds and six steals. Bentley’s first half three-pointer was the only made three-point attempt by the Lady Lions on the afternoon.

Leading three-point shooter Maggie Lucas was held to just one attempt and 1-of-6 shooting finishing with seven points.

“She finally had a bad game,” Washington said. “She’ll be fine.”

Sophomore guard Ariel Edwards had 17 points and 11 rebounds (six offensive) for her first career double-double. Edwards started in place of junior Mia Nickson, who Washington said “tweaked a muscle” but “could have played.”

“It’s a level to keep repeating. Something I want to do more consistently,” Edwards said. “(Coach) always tells me I’m like a sixth starter. I’m going to be in the game when it matters.”

“She can create havoc out there,” Washington said. “She gave us a lot of extra possessions because of her energy level.”

The Lady Lions shot 12-of-37 in the first half and trailed 32-31 at the break but would go on to win one for Coach Paterno.

“He’d been ticked if we lost,” Washington said. “He was just a fantastic man and an inspiration and meant so much to this community. And we’ll miss him. We’ll miss him.”

The Lady Lions take on conference foe Indiana Thursday, Feb. 2 at 7 p.m. ET in the Jordan Center. The game will be aired on ComRadio at psucomradio.com.

Patrick Woo is a sophomore majoring in journalism. He can be reached at pww5053@psu.edu.