Fatigue fizzles lady cagers

INDIANAPOLIS -- Besides Purdue, the Penn State women's basketball team lost to another opponent last night -- fatigue.

The Lady Lions (17-13) played four Big Ten Tournament games in four days at the RCA Dome. None of the contests were a breeze. Penn State took a high-paced, high-scoring contest from Northwestern on Friday, won a physical, down-to-the-wire game against Illinois on Saturday, then went into overtime to beat Michigan on Sunday.

Then came the Boilermakers.

Penn State coach Rene Portland was dissatisfied with the way the tournament was run. Among other things, she said a day of rest between the finals and the semifinals was needed.

"We could use a day of rest," Portland said. "I know I could have."

Portland pointed to sub-par shooting performances by both teams yesterday as a result of fatigue. Penn State shot 38 percent and Purdue (20-9), playing its third game in three days, shot just 37 percent.

Poor shooting was a factor in the low final score -- 59-49. Portland said such a low scoring game isn't what is needed if the tournament is to draw fans and television viewers.

Among the players noticeably affected by fatigue was Penn State guard Helen Darling. The sophomore played 42 minutes Sunday against Michigan and 40 minutes last night against Purdue. She had nine turnovers and shot 3 for 9.

Lion center Andrea Garner said weariness was also a factor in her team's defensive effort.

"It hurt us a lot in our press when we had to run and get back on defense," Garner said. "We still had a lot of heart and we tried to push and fight through it."

Purdue forward Michelle Duhart was able to triumph over her fatigue. Her eight points, eight steals and help in guarding Garner were key in the Boilermaker win.

Duhart said tiredness isn't a factor when there is a championship on the line.

"When you play for a championship, you don't get tired," Duhart said. "You play for your team and you play hard the whole time you're out there."

Purdue coach Carolyn Peck said she wouldn't like a day off. With the final game played at 7:30 p.m., both teams get almost a full day between the semifinals and the finals. Peck said she was a nervous wreck waiting for the game-time to finally arrive.

"I'm gonna tell ya, this was the longest day in my life," Peck said. "I don't know if I'd want to wait another day. I was kind of hoping (the game) would be at one o'clock again, because I couldn't find anything to do.

"I kinda like just doing it."

The top five seeds in the tournament are given first-round byes. Thus, the last six seeds are forced to win four games in order to win the tournament. With Penn State's loss yesterday, no team has ever won four games in the tournament. The only other team to come close was Ohio State, which won three games before falling to the Lions in the finals in the 1995 tournament.