Lady cagers freefall making tourney hopes look bleak

Things could not have been better for the Lady Lion basketball team two weeks ago.

After being picked to finish sixth in the Big Ten, Penn State was riding a hot streak entering its second battle of the season against No. 9 Illinois with a chance to move into a first-place tie. A return trip to the NCAA Tournament looked certain.

A lot of bad things, though, can happen in two weeks.

After Sunday's ugly 73-49 loss to Iowa, the Lions (13-11, 7-7 Big Ten) find themselves locked in a sixth-place tie with Wisconsin. Penn State has now lost four straight games and its NCAA Tournament aspirations are almost dead. The Lions must get hot if they hope to even be considered for the Big Dance.

"The answer is in the locker room. That's the bottom line," coach Rene Portland said. "Certainly, with the coaches, we'll show up and work our faces off, but it's coming down to 11 kids understanding what they commit themselves to."

Penn State has looked like a completely different team the last two weeks. Two of the Lions' losses have been to Big Ten teams they beat earlier in the season. Against Michigan and Indiana the Lions averaged 23 fewer points than they did when they defeated both teams last month.

A lack of offense has hampered the Lions constantly during the four-game slide. They have been unable to establish any offensive consistency, averaging just 58 points per game. To make matters worse, Penn State has not shot better than 40 percent from the field since the Illinois game, and has not connected on more than 50 percent since its second game of the season against Temple.

Things hit rock bottom against Iowa when the Lions made just 30 percent of their shots. Penn State fell behind early with atrocious shooting, hitting just three of 21 shots and missing six layups. After closing the deficit to 10 early in the second half, Penn State sealed its fate by missing all but six of its last 28 shots.

While they have struggled to put points on the board, the Lions have not had many problems giving them up. The defense, which gave so many teams trouble throughout the first 20 games, has disappeared. Neither Michigan nor Iowa had any trouble breaking Penn State's full-court pressure and both were able to exploit it for some easy baskets.

"I'm more concerned about our defense," Portland said after the Michigan game. "We let them go baseline. We didn't help and we let five of their players get double figures."

Penn State's opponents have taken advantage of the porous defense to rack up some impressive statistics. Iowa hit 55 percent of its shots and was able to score at will whenever the Lions threatened to get back in the game. Illinois shot even better than Iowa, breaking a record at The Bryce Jordan Center with its 61 percent shooting percentage.

Uninspired play has left Penn State with little hope of reaching the tournament. Even if the Lions win their last two regular season games, the only way they can qualify for the postseason is by winning the Big Ten Tournament in two weeks. That possibility, however, seems unlikely considering Penn State is a paltry 2-7 against the five teams ahead in the standings.

"Somehow we got off page and now we have to get back on page to make it to NCAAs," guard Jamie Parsons said. "You have to have that desire to win."

Penn State found itself in a similar situation last year. With the same record after 24 games, last year's team pulled together to win its last two regular season games. Ohio State, though, kept the Lions from going anywhere in the postseason, upsetting them 80-79 in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament.

Despite its slide, Penn State is confident it can go further this year.

"Our team is good with challenges," center Andrea Garner said. "Hopefully everyone will step up and go that extra mile."