500 and counting

Rene Portland's 500th win pushed the lady cagers into the WNIT final

Two days before Penn State's WNIT semifinal matchup with Indiana, Lady Lion guard Christine Portland talked a good game, saying the Lions should never have lost to the Hoosiers last month.

Friday night at The Bryce Jordan Center Portland and the Lions played a good game, destroying overmatched Indiana 70-42 to advance to the WNIT championship game and give coach Rene Portland her 500th victory.

"We're very thrilled," Rene Portland said. "This is a big comeback from what we went through at the Big Ten Tournament."

The Lions dominated Indiana the entire game, outhustling, outworking and, most importantly, outrebounding the Hoosiers 48-33 and 22-9 on the offensive glass. Penn State's domination of the boards helped the team build an early 26-14 lead midway through the first half. During that, span half of the Lions' points came courtesy of offensive rebounds.

Not only did the Lions control the boards and the pace of the game, Indiana never even went to the free throw line the entire night.

Indiana kept the game interesting at the start and only trailed 16-10 seven minutes into the game. That, though, was as close as the Hoosiers would get. Penn State picked up its defensive pressure and closed the half with a 23-9 flurry to build a 19-point halftime advantage.

Penn State could do no wrong in the first half. Even when things appeared to be getting out of control, the Lions always managed to make something positive out of it.

Never was this more apparent than when Garner got trapped under the basket, bent backward and put in a hook shot with two defenders hanging on her. Not to be outdone, guard Chrissy Falcone pulled off her own trick a few minutes later and nailed a fade-away desperation 3-pointer as the shot clock expired.

"We took a pretty good whipping," Indiana coach Jim Izard said. "We kind of threw in the towel a couple of times and we lost our intensity."

The Hoosiers could never adapt to Penn State's full-court pressure and trap defenses, turning the ball over 25 times. Most shaken by the Lions' pressure was All-Big Ten center Quacy Barnes. She came into the game averaging 18 points and 6.5 rebounds, but with Penn State isolating her away from the basket and forcing her to dribble, Indiana's leader could only muster six points and three rebounds.

"We had some great defensive intensity," Portland said. "The adjustment we made to get Quacy the ball and allow her to dribble worked well. She's not a point guard."

After being overlooked for an NCAA Tournament bid by the selection committee, Friday's trouncing of the Hoosiers was extra special for Penn State.

"We wanted to get to the WNIT Championship game," Garner said, "to prove to the committee and other people that we belonged."