Lady Lions ready for championship

The story of the Lady Lions' basketball season can be divided into two chapters.

In the first, Penn State suffered through a disappointing regular season in which it finished 14-12 and dropped to seventh place in the Big Ten.

At 8 p.m. today in Waco, Texas, the Lions (20-13) will look to finish their storybook turnaround when they take on Baylor for the WNIT championship.

"This is a national tournament that gets us motivated," Lion center Andrea Garner said. "In tournaments you're one and you're done and you've got that kind of pressure in every game to win it."

Penn State knows all about dealing with the pressure of a tournament championship game. Three weeks ago, the Lions plowed their way through the Big Ten Tournament field and met Purdue for the title. In that game, a combination of fatigue and turnovers doomed Penn State and the Boilermakers captured the crown, winning 59-49.

This time, though, the Lions should be well-rested and more experienced.

In addition to having more time to prepare for this title game, Penn State also heads into tonight's game playing its best basketball of the season. They rattled off three straight WNIT victories against Villanova, St. Joseph's and Indiana by an average of 16 points to get to the championship. In their last game against the Hoosiers, Penn State dominated every facet of the game, outrebounding the team 48-33 and forcing 25 turnovers.

"We can't let Penn State get second and third shots," Baylor coach Sonja Hogg said. "Our defense has carried us at times and we're going to have to rely on our defense against them."

One thing Baylor (20-10) has going for it is home court advantage. The Lady Bears, who finished in a tie for fifth in the Big 12 Conference, are 13-1 on their home floor this year. In its semifinal victory against Louisiana State, Baylor drew an all-time record crowd of 7,116 to secure the home floor for the title game.

Like Penn State, the Lady Bears are a hot team, having won four of their last five games. They have been led in the postseason by their dangerous trio of double-digit scorers Toya Ellis, Lara Webb and Kacy Moffitt. The three have combined for 48.4 points per game.

The Lions will try to counter Baylor's attack by exploiting the Lady Bears' lack of size. With the exception of Moffitt, no Baylor starter is more than six feet tall.

"We do like the depth we have at the post position," Portland said. "So we should be able to handle the post."

If Penn State controls the game under the basket, it could put an exclamation point on a postseason run that seemed impossible after dropping five of its last six regular season games.

"It's a real big game for us," Portland said. "Yesterday at practice we talked about five months of hard work coming down to one game."