Lady cagers swipe two

By DAMIAN DOBROSIELSKI
Collegian Sports Writer

There were stretches filled with lackadaisical play and poor decisions. Nevertheless, the women's basketball team secured two more Big Ten victories over the weekend inside Rec Hall.

After disposing of a struggling Iowa squad 73-62 on Friday, the Lady Lions knocked off scrappy Minnesota yesterday, 87-73.

Penn State jumped out to an early 28-11 lead against the Gophers before Minnesota Coach Linda Hill-MacDonald called a timeout. Following the break in the action, the Gophers were a different team, cutting the Lady Lion lead to seven points at the intermission.

"During the timeout, we talked about stopping Penn State's transition game," Hill-MacDonald said. "We tried to get back into focus what we needed to do."

The second stanza was a nip-and-tuck affair. Behind guard Shannon Loeblein's shooting spree, the Gophers pulled within two points of Penn State with 11:46 remaining in the game.

But in the closing minutes, the Lady Lions pulled away. With the win, Penn State also avenged a Jan. 6 loss to Minnesota in Minneapolis.

"We turned it up a notch when we had to," Lady Lion guard Carla Coleman said.

Penn State used a balanced scoring attack to defeat the Gophers as four players scored in double figures.

Center Kim Calhoun paced the Lady Lions with a career-high 20 points. The 6-foot-3 junior also pulled down nine rebounds and blocked four shots.

Penn State point guard Tina Nicholson came up big against Minnesota as well, scoring 17 points. But Nicholson was more pleased with her 10 assists.

"I'd rather have an assist than a point," Nicholson said with a smile.

Forward Angie Potthoff and guard Carla Coleman scored 17 and 16 points, respectively.

Loeblein burned the Lady Lions for 27 points, which included seven three-pointers -- the most ever by a Lady Lion opponent in Rec Hall.

"We did a horrendous job of guarding her," Penn State Coach Rene Portland said.

Friday against Iowa, the Lady Lions took the lead on a three-pointer by Longworth with 18:44 to go in the opening stanza and never trailed the remainder of the game.

But the Hawkeyes clawed their way back into the game in the second half, taking advantage of Penn State miscues.

"In the first half, we came out and did some nice things," Portland said. "But in the second half, we got lazy. We made a lot of mental mistakes and put Iowa on the foul line too many times."

Freshman phenom Tiffany Gooden scored 26 points and pulled down 12 rebounds.

For the Lady Lions, guard Tiffany Longworth led the way, pouring in 16 points. She also racked up five assists.

With the victories over Iowa and Minnesota, Penn State moves two steps closer to winning its second Big Ten championship in as many years.