Lady cagers' guard a Darling when it matters

By WILLIAM KALEC
Collegian Staff Writer

It was a scene with which the No. 20 Penn State women's basketball team has become quite familiar.

Simply put, it was winning time.

Like they had in previous losses to Purdue and Arkansas, with 3:46 remaining in the second half of Friday's contest against Iowa (8-8, 3-3 Big Ten) the Lady Lions (12-4, 4-2) found themselves in a situation in which great players have to make great plays.

With the score deadlocked at 55, Lion point guard Helen Darling left the memories of the previous 36 minutes behind her and made one of those great plays.

Off an Andrea Garner missed free throw, Darling was able to squeeze every inch of her 5-foot-7 frame into the lane, pull down the rebound over the Hawkeyes' 6-foot-4 center Amy Herrig, and very quickly convert Garner's missed opportunity into two quick Penn State points. Darling's bucket, her first of the game, gave the Lions a slender two-point advantage -- a lead they would not relinquish for the rest of the night.

In one quick leap toward the basket Darling was able to rewrite the script of one of her least memorable nights as a Lion.

"Helen made a play with five minutes left in the game that swung momentum and allowed us to continue to run," Penn State coach Rene Portland said. "I wouldn't say Helen struggled tonight. (Iowa point guard) Cara Consuegra is a great player and she is from this area so she had extra motivation. They did an excellent job of scouting us."

Consuegra was able to break Penn State's press, led by Darling, which had given Michigan State fits four days earlier, with relative ease. She scored 11 points and helped feed the Hawkeyes' strength by getting the ball to their dominant post players Herrig and Randi Peterson.

And while Consuegra ran the point with the poise of a veteran, Darling kept looking to find herself.

Everywhere Darling went Consuegra's black-and-gold No. 21 constantly was in her face. Before her go-ahead basket, Darling was 0 for 4 from the field in the 32 minutes she was on the floor. Every time Darling drove she was forced to put up a wild, low-percentage shot -- desperately trying to get herself back in the game. And with her go-ahead layup, she couldn't have picked a better time.

In the boxscore, Consuegra won every battle against Darling on The Bryce Jordan Center floor Friday night.

But by connecting on the most important field goal of the night, Darling ultimately won the war.

"Great job done tonight by Penn State. I think they did what they should do to a young team," Iowa coach Angie Lee said. "In the long run this game will be very beneficial to us. As time goes on we are going to learn how to win these games."