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No. 16/17 Lady Lions Sprint Past Wagner, 103-42
Lucas and Bentley pace Penn State with 23 points each
UNIVERSITY
PARK, PA.; December 18, 2011 — Behind 57 points in the first half, the
#16/17 Penn State Lady Lions (9-2, 0-0 BigTen) earned a 103-42 win
against Wagner (2-8, 1-1 NEC) Sunday afternoon at the Bryce Jordan
Center. Four Lady Lions posted double-digit points to give Penn State
an undefeated home non-conference record for the first time since
the2007-08 season.
Junior guard Alex Bentley
(Indianapolis, Ind.) and sophomore Maggie Lucas(Narberth, Pa.) led the
Lady Lions with 23 points apiece. Bentley also added five steals and
two assists, while Lucas chipped in four rebounds and a steal. Senior
Zhaque Gray (Chicago, Ill.) posted 13 points wit three helpers and
sophomore Ariel Edwards (Elmont, N.Y.) rounded out Penn State’s top
scorers with 11 points to go along with six rebounds.
Freshman
Tori Waldner (Milton, Ga.) posted a career-high 10 rebounds and three
blocked shots, while junior Marisa Wolfe (Ford City, Pa.) had a
season-high nine points and tied her personal-best with seven boards.
Junior Nikki Greene (Diboll, Texas) had a solid all-around outing with
nine points, eight rebounds and three blocks.
Despite
Wagner opened the game by scoring seven of the first nine points to
take a 7-2 lead by the 17:46 mark, Penn State took control by scoring
the next 11 tallies for a 13-7 advantage. Kelly Clark temporarily cut
off the Lady Lion run with a free throw, but Lucas nailed a jumper with
15 minutes to spark a 12-0 run givingPenn State a 17 point lead (25-8)
with 12:34 left in the opening half.
Clark again cut off
the run by making two free throws to pull the Seahawks within 15
(25-10). PSU then embarked on a 31-9 scoring run to close out the first
half to take a commanding 57-19 lead. Seven Lady Lions contributed to
the scoring run with Gray leading the team with 11 points during the
spurt.
Penn State continued to roll in the second half,
scoring the first seven points of the frame to increase the gap to
64-19. Veronick Fornier had a layup for Wagner, but Clark fouled Lucas
who put in two free throws to move Penn State back ahead by 45, 66-21.
An 8-2 Lady Lion run gave Penn State its largest lead of the game to
that point (77-26). However, a Marie Archambault trifecta for the
Seahawks and a Brittney Thorpe layup closed the gap to 48 (49-31).
With
less than 10 minutes to play, PSU had an 82-33 lead. Edwards tallied
two points off a trip to the foul line to push the Lions back ahead by
51, 84-33. PennState’s dominance continued with a 10-0 run moving the
Lady Lions ahead, 94-35. Archambault once again found the basket for
three for the Seahawks at the 5:40 mark, but Greene made the first half
of a two-shot trip to the line before layups from Edwards and East
propelled Penn State to triple-digits, 100-38.Waldner scored on a free
throw and Gray put up a layup to secure a 103-42 victory for the Lady
Lions.
GAME NOTES: All nine of Penn State’s active players
scored at least two points, making the third consecutive game in which
that has happened … Penn State eclipsed the 100-point mark for the
third time this season, scoring 103 points against North Carolina
(11/30) and Nevada (11/26) … The 61-point win for the Lady Lions is
their largest margin of victory since beating Rider by 74 points
(95-21) on Nov. 10, 2010 … The Lady Lions’ 38-point lead at the half is
their largest margin at halftime this season … As a team, the Lady
Lions recorded nine blocks, which ties their season-high, also hitting
that mark against South Carolina on Nov. 20 ... With a 13-point
performance, Zhaque Gray passed the 700-point plateau for her career
(702 pts.) … Gray’s three-pointer she made today moved her up into a
tie for ninth-place on Penn State’s all-time three pointers made list …
Maggie Lucas netted her third-straight 20-point game and her fifth in
the last six games with 23 tallies … Alex Bentley also notched a
20-point game with 23 markers, it is her fourth 20-point game of the
season … The last time Penn State had two players score 20 or more
points came at Nevada on Nov. 26 when Gray and Lucas surpassed the mark
… Talia East tied her career-high of eight points … Bentley tied her
career-high in steals with five … Ariel Edwards tied her career-high in
assists with three … Gizelle Studevent set her career-high in assists
with four, surpassing her previous mark of three at Nevada on Nov. 26
earlier this year … Marisa Wolfe tied her career-high for rebounds with
seven to go along with a season-high nine points …Tori Waldner grabbed
a career-high 10 rebounds … In addition, she made a career-best three
free-throws.
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