Lady Lions streak into tourney

Lady Lion seniors Tiffany Longworth and Angie Potthoff could not have dreamed of a better way to finish out their last home weekend at Penn State.

It was so perfect. Potthoff's work was finished -- she scored 25 points and hauled down eight rebounds in the win. Longworth was a nuisance for the Badgers (16-10, 8-8 Big Ten) all afternoon with her scrappy defense. She also added 10 points, three of which came on her 172nd career 3-point field goal.

The win followed on the heels of a 69-65 upset of No. 19 Michigan State (20-6, 12-4) Friday night, a game which marked the first victory by Penn State (15-11, 8-8) over a ranked opponent this season.

"This was a great weekend for us," Penn State coach Rene Portland said. "The balance was the thing that we liked. A lot of people scored."

Friday night Potthoff led the Lady Lions, as she has so many times this season, dropping in 24 points and ripping down a career-high 16 rebounds. But she was helped by freshman Andrea Garner's 13 points and 10 points apiece from Longworth and Shauntai Hall.

Penn State jumped out to an early 20-9 lead behind eight points from Garner. They extended the lead to 34-18 on an Em Clements lay-up with 7:18 remaining in the first half. But the Spartans refused to fold, going on a 17-4 run to close the gap to 38-35 at halftime.

Michigan State kept the momentum flowing into the second half, and was leading 50-45 with 14:38 remaining. But the Lady Lions rebounded and went on a 12-0 run that vaulted them into the lead to stay.

"In the beginning of the game we really got our running game going," Potthoff said Friday night. "We were worried about stopping their fast break and our fast break got going."

The transition game was one of many facets of Penn State's game plan which clicked against Wisconsin yesterday afternoon. Penn State was dominant down low, outscoring the Badgers 52-30 in the paint. The Lady Lions out-rebounded Wisconsin 48-33, and shot a season-high 58 percent from the floor.

"Pretty much we got beat in every facet of the game," Badger coach Jane Albright-Dieterle said. "I think you can safely say we looked like a team that lost by 30 points."

Proof of that began right from the get-go, with Penn State grabbing an early 16-8 lead on an around-the-back dish from Darling to Hall for two points. The Lady Lions continued to pour it on, shooting 66 percent from the field in the first half to take a 50-30 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The assault continued in the second half as Penn State's lead ballooned to 30 points behind solid defensive play across the board. Wisconsin star point guard Keisha Anderson turned the ball over five times and was held to 12 points in the game -- eight points below her season average of 20 points per game.

"I feel like we just picked it up," Longworth said about the Lady Lion defensive effort. "It was just hustle. We wanted to get every loose ball, every long rebound."

The win secured Penn State the No. 7 seed in the Big Ten tournament which gets underway Friday at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. The Lady Lions will first face Ohio State (11-15, 3-13) at 6 p.m. Friday night.

"It was nice to get momentum to get into the tournament," Potthoff said. "We know how hard we have to play. We're exhausted after every game, but that's what it takes to win it."