Lady linksters face critical weekend

Tobacco road is known for being a college basketball hotbed. However, the hoops season has concluded, and now the area will shift its focus from the hardwood to the golf course.

The Lady Lion golf team heads to the Duke Invitational in Durham, N.C., this weekend for a meet critical to its postseason hopes.

"We'll be facing several teams from our region," Penn State coach Denise St. Pierre said, "so it will be important for nationals."

There will be tough competition awaiting Penn State, though. The Lady Lions face top teams such as Wake Forest, Tennessee, Memphis, Vanderbilt and host Duke in addition to several others.

"We want to beat Memphis and Vanderbilt," Lady Lion junior Katie Aldridge said. "That way the coaches' committee (that picks teams for nationals) will see that we're a better team, and they (the coaches) will have to pick us."

To do well at this tournament, which runs Sunday through Tuesday, Penn State will have to continue doing what it has done well up to this point.

"I think the team has been fairly consistent," St. Pierre said. "That will be important for the three-day event. It will be important to play our best every day."

St. Pierre also wants the scores lowered from the last two tournaments, in which she said they were "marginal."

"I'd like to see the team's score come down by 10 shots," St. Pierre said.

Because of the tournament's importance, the team has prepared a little differently. St. Pierre had the players practice at Toftrees Country Club this week because the course is very similar to the one the players will face Sunday.

St. Pierre and several of the players are familiar with Duke Golf Course that features large, undulated greens and fairways lined with trees, putting a premium on keeping tee shots straight.