Lady cagers advance to Final Four

For 20 minutes yesterday in The Bryce Jordan Center St. Joseph's looked primed to upset the favored Lady Lion basketball team.

Fortunately for Penn State, though, the game is 40 minutes long.

The Lions (19-13) wore down the Hawks (19-12) in the second half and continued their post season roll, pulling away down the stretch for a 72-59 victory in the second round of the WNIT Tournament.

Friday night the Lions upended Villanova 68-61 in the first round. The weekend wins catapulted streaking Penn State into the Final Four. The Lions will continue their quest for the title Friday night when they host Big Ten rival Indiana.

Midway through the first half it looked like the Hawks would not have to worry about fatigue in the second half. Penn State threatened to run St. Joe's out of the center, building an eight-point cushion at the ten minute mark. The Hawks responded with a combination of strong outside shooting and physical play in the post and grabbed a 29-27 lead late in the half.

Angela Zampella ignited the 16-6 surge, scoring at will against the Lions full-court pressure defense. She lit up Penn State with 18 first-half points and three assists.

Despite regaining a three-point lead at halftime, the Lions could not shake St. Joe's early in the second half. Junior guard Melissa Coursey's jumper from the foul line put the Hawks up 49-48 with a little more than eight minutes remaining.

That, however, would be the last time St. Joe's would see the lead. Freshman Lisa Shepherd answered Coursey and nailed her third 3-pointer of the game, keying a 14-4 run. Point guard Helen Darling, who racked up her second straight 20-point performance of the tournament, killed any hopes of a Hawk comeback with perfect foul shooting in the final two minutes.

"The attitude of our team changed in the second half, and we played like we did against Illinois (in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament) and hit back," said Penn State coach Rene Portland who is now only one win shy of No. 500. "It was very physical in the first half and our kids didn't respond to that, but in the second half they went out there and got the job done."

The Lions responded to the St. Joe's physical play by dominating the boards in the second half. The inside trio of Clara Carter, Andrea Garner and Em Clements helped Penn State outrebound the Hawks 19-14 in the second half. More importantly, the post players wore St. Joe's down and got the Hawks into foul trouble by grabbing 10 offensive rebounds to the Hawks' two.

Shutting down Zampella also proved crucial to Penn State's second-half success. The sophomore guard lost her scoring touch in the face of Lion guard Jamie Parsons' constant pressure. Zampella scored only two second-half points on one for seven shooting and fouled out late in the game.

"Jamie Parsons did a great job against Angela Zampella in the second half," Darling said. "She did a great job of staying on her and getting in her face."

As they have the entire post season, the Lions received strong contributions from a variety of players. Clements and Carter complemented Darling well, teaming up for 20 points and 15 rebounds while Garner chipped in ten points and eight rebounds. Shepherd's 13 points and clutch outside shooting helped spread the Hawk defense and opened up the middle for the post players.

Penn State's depth and its response to physical play gives it a lot of confidence heading into Friday's showdown with Indiana.

"Illinois was the most physical team we played," Shepherd said. We played well against them so we can play with any team."