Lady cagers eye Illinois, Northwestern comes first

The Penn State women's basketball team's path to a Big Ten title could get a lot clearer this weekend. With a win Sunday against conference leader No. 8 Illinois, the Lady Lions will have the opportunity to possibly move into a first-place tie with the Big Ten front-runner.

Before setting its eyes on first place though, Penn State (12-7, 6-3 Big Ten) must first travel to Evanston, Ill., for an 8 p.m. battle with last-place Northwestern.

Coming off a season in which it advanced to the NCAA Tournament, the Wildcats (6-15, 1-8) were picked as one of the preseason favorites to capture the Big Ten crown. Inconsistent offense and sluggish defense, however, have made for a disappointing season. After starting the season with two straight wins the Wildcats have won just four of 19 games.

"We're going through a year that's very frustrating. We are not used to losing," Northwestern coach Don Perrelli said. "We have not played consistent basketball."

One bright spot for Northwestern has been forward Kristina Divjak. The Big Ten Player of the Year candidate's 21 points per game average tops the conference. She has been especially adept from 3-point land, connecting on a Big Ten-best 59 treys.

"We cannot overlook Northwestern. They've got a great outside game," Lion guard Jamie Parsons said. "We have to keep ourselves focused. They've popped up on us in the past."

A victory against the Wildcats tonight coupled with an Iowa defeat of Illinois would give Sunday's showdown with the Illini at The Bryce Jordan Center a championship flavor. Penn State could move into a first-place tie by upsetting its rival.

Beating Illinois, however, will be a lot easier said than done. Just two weeks ago the Illini thumped Penn State 82-58 in Champaign. Tauja Catchings led all scorers with 16 points while Melissa Parker chipped in 13. Illinois routed the Lions despite an off night from 1997 Big Ten Player of the Year Ashley Berggren and the absence of its second-leading scorer Alicia Sheeler.

Despite her team's impressive performance two weeks ago, Illinois coach Theresa Grentz said she does not expect history to repeat itself.

"Penn State is always a tougher team when you play them at home," Grentz said. I've watched coach (Rene) Portland for a long time and I think this is one of her better coaching jobs."

The Lions will have to find a way to slow down the Illinois inside game to pull off the upset. Two weeks ago the Illini post players out-rebounded Penn State 50-34. Casey Leonhardt was especially tough on the Lions, racking up 11 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots.

One adjustment Penn State will make to slow Illinois under the basket is inserting forward Clara Carter into the starting lineup in place of Em Clements. Lion coach Rene Portland said the move should give her team a tougher inside presence.

"We felt that it was best for our rotation in the post. Andrea (Garner) has really developed into a very strong offensive high post player for us. Em is a high post player also, and we were having difficulty in matchups defensively," Portland said. "Clara is developing into a wonderful low post presence and we felt it was best for the team to have that kind of high post-low post combination."