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Lady Lions Stave Off the Wildcats, 73-69
Lucas leads all scorers with 24 points; Taylor records career high seven steals
UNIVERSITY
PARK, PA.-The #9/9 Penn State Lady Lions (11-2, 1-0 Big Ten) used a
late rally to fend off the Northwestern Wildcats (8-6, 0-1) in their
Big Ten opener by a score of 73-69 on Thursday night at the Bryce
Jordan Center. The Wildcats held a six-point advantage with 4:47
remaining in the contest, but Penn State closed the game on 17-9 run to
seal the comeback victory.
Junior guard Maggie
Lucas (Narberth, Pa.) led the way for the Lady Lions, netting 24
points. All five of Lucas’ field goals came from three-point range
while she shot 9-for-12 from the charity stripe. The Narberth native
additionally tallied four assists, two blocks and five steals in the
win. The Lady Lions accumulated 19 total steals with a career-high
seven steals coming from junior Dara Taylor (Wilmington, Del.).
Senior
Mia Nickson (Ashburn, Va.) recorded her 13th career double-double in
the win, tallying season highs of 14 points and 13 rebounds. Senior
point guard Alex Bentley (Indianapolis, Ind.) added nine points to go
along with six steals and three assists. Taylor additionally chipped in
nine points.
Northwestern jumped out to a quick
6-0 lead until Bentley scored on a three-point field goal 3:59 into the
contest. Following a Nickson putback, the Wildcats put together a 7-0
run to up their lead to 13-5 with 13:35 remaining. Penn State would
answer right back though with a 7-0 run to shrink the lead to one
(13-12) thanks athree from Lucas, and made free throws by Nickson and
junior Talia East (Philadelphia, Pa.).
With the
Lady Lions down 25-19, Bentley made two free throws to cut the lead to
four the freshman Candice Agee (Victorville, Calif.) scored two of her
four points to shrink the Wildcat lead to two (25-23) with 6:10
remaining. The Wildcats would push their lead back to four points over
the next two-plus minutes before Lucas closed the deficit to one
(31-30) with 3:06 to go in the half on a made three, but Northwestern
would go on a 7-2 run to close the half and take a six point lead into
the locker room (38-32).
Greene, who was relegated
to the bench for 18 minutes in the first half with foul trouble,
started the second half with a layup 1:45 in to cut Northwestern’s lead
to four. The Lions scored three of the game’s next five points, but
two-straight Wildcat baskets would put Penn State down seven (44-37)
with 16:09 left.
With 13:33 remaining in the
contest, the Lady Lions would begin a run that started with a baseline
drive by junior Ariel Edwards (Elmont, N.Y.) to make the score 45-41 in
favor of the Wildcats. Lucas sank two free throws and Nickson tied it
up on two ensuing makes from the charity stripe to make it 45-45 with
12:49 on the clock. Penn State garnered its first lead of the game on
one Lucas free throw and an Edwards drive to the basket to close out
the 7-0 run and give the Lady Lions a 48-45 lead with 11:06 to go in
the contest.
The squads exchanged scores until the
Wildcats went on a 9-0 run to establish a62-56 lead with 4:24
remaining. Alex Cohen capped the run with five consecutive points,
including a banked in three-pointer as the shot clock expired. Trailing
62-56, Greene cut into the Wildcat lead on a putback at the 3:56 mark.
After Lauren Douglas made one of two free throws, Lucas scored four
consecutive tallies, including her fifth three-pointer of the game to
shrink the lead to 63-62 with 2:35 remaining.
A
Kate Popovec layup put Northwestern back up by three, but Taylor would
score four consecutive points on a jumper and layup to jump-start an
8-0 that would give the Lady Lions a 70-65 lead with 36 seconds
remaining.
Two Karly Roser free throws for
Northwestern would shrink the lead to three with 31 seconds to go, but
East made one of two from the line on the other end to make it a
two-possession game with 23 seconds left. On the ensuing possession,
Roser knocked down a jumper to cut the lead to two with 14 seconds
remaining (71-69). Northwestern was unable to foul Bentley until there
were two seconds remaining on the clock. Bentley made both free throws,
resulting in a 73-69 final score.
GAME NOTES:
Junior guard Maggie Lucas posted her eighth 20-point game of the season
and 39th of her career with 24 tallies … With her performance, she
moved into 13th place on Penn State’s career scoring list (1,469),
passing Katina Mack (1,463) and Jess Strom (1,466) … Senior guard Alex
Bentley nabbed six thefts on the night to climb into sixth place on
Penn State’s career steals chart (270), passing Tanisha Wright (267) …
Junior guard Dara Taylor had a career high seven steals, surpassing her
previous career mark of six thefts against N.C. Central (11/14/09) as a
member of the Maryland Terrapins … Taylor surpassed the 100-steal mark
for her career (104) … Senior Mia Nickson posted her third
double-double of the season and 13th of her career with season-bests of
14 points and 13 rebounds … Penn State nabbed a season-best 19 steals …
The 19 thefts are the most by the Lady Lions since registering 21
thefts against Bucknell Dec. 28, 2010 … The Lady Lions have won 13
consecutive home games, the ninth-longest streak in school history …
Penn State is now 12-9 in Big Ten openers since joining the conference
in 1992-93 … It is just Penn State’s second win in a Big Ten opener in
the last eight years (2010-11) … PSU is 15-6 all-time in Big Ten home
openers since 1993 … The Lady Lions shot below 30% and won for the
first time since shooting 22.4% (15-67) at Minnesota on Jan. 3,1999 …
The Lady Lions had more three-point field goals (5) in the first half
than they did two-point field goals (4).
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