Three teams vie for conference title

The Purdue, Illinois and Michigan women's basketball teams each have 11-3 records, and hope to claim Big Ten title.

With only two conference games remaining for most Big Ten women's basketball squads several have positioned themselves to win the conference title. The entries are Purdue, Michigan State and Illinois -- all three deadlocked atop the Big Ten with 11-3 conference records.

No. 19 Michigan State (19-5, 11-3 Big Ten) has sat at the top of the conference for the majority of the season. On the road last Friday, the Spartans were hammered by Purdue, 75-52. But Sunday the Spartans bounced back to knock off No. 17 Illinois, 78-75, at home, forcing a first-place tie.

The Spartans have what appears to be the easiest remaining schedule of the three first-place teams. They travel to Happy Valley for a Friday battle with Penn State (13-11, 6-8), then close out their regular season Sunday at Indiana (14-11, 7-8).

"We know there is no such thing as an easy game," Michigan State coach Karen Langeland said. "It's not possible to win against any Big Ten team just by showing up."

Illinois (19-5, 11-3) has been the surprise of the Big Ten behind junior guard Ashley Berrgren. The Illini have been playing in Huff Hall this season, but with red-hot Purdue coming to town Sunday, Illinois has decided to move the game to Assembly Hall -- where the Illinois men's team plays. More than 14,000 tickets for the game have already been sold, and the Illini are threatening to break the Big Ten single game attendance mark for women's basketball of 15,500 set by Iowa in 1988.

Purdue (15-8, 11-3) joined the fray at the conference peak after bumping off both Michigan State and Wisconsin during the weekend. The Boilermakers are heating up at the right time. On Jan. 5, Purdue sat at 6-6, 2-2 in the Big Ten. Since then Nell Fortner's club has won nine of 11 games, including the last five.

Wild Cat

Rebounders rebound, passers pass and shooters shoot. Northwestern sophomore Kristina Divjak is listed as a forward, but she is a natural shooter. Proof of that came during the weekend, when she scored 19 points in an 88-75 win at Indiana and a career-high 33 points in a 104-65 trashing of Michigan.

Divjak, whose performances earned her conference player of the week honors, shot 67.9 percent from the field, hitting 4-of-7 3-point attempts and sinking 10-of-10 free throws.

Wolverines on fire

It isn't that Penn State coach Rene Portland looked past her team's game with Michigan in Ann Arbor on Friday, she just wasn't prepared for the massacre the Lady Lions were about to come out on the short end of.

Penn State knocked off the Wolverines, 82-73, on Feb. 7, but the second meeting was a different story. Michigan burned up the nets in the second half, scoring 64 and shooting 82.6 percent from the field. The result was a 98-59 whipping, the worst Big Ten defeat ever suffered by Penn State.

"I'm going to go outside and check and see if there's a full moon tonight," Portland said afterward.

Queen of pickpocket

For as inconsistent as Wisconsin (16-7, 8-5) has been this season, at least coach Jane Albright-Dieterle has been able to rely on senior guard Keisha Anderson. Aside from averaging 19.8 points and 4.6 assists per game this season, Anderson leads the Big Ten in steals with 87, or 3.6 per game.

After winning four straight January games against Northwestern, Ohio State, Michigan and Minnesota, the Badgers proceeded to lose four straight. Anderson helped end that skid Feb. 11, when she poured in 26 points and swiped a Big Ten record 14 steals to lead Wisconsin over Cleveland State, 103-64.