Shepherd's second half explosion buries Wildcats

By DONNIE COLLINS
Collegian Staff Writer

It looked like Northwestern had Lisa Shepherd stopped.

As it turned out, the Wildcats didn't even have her contained.

Shepherd scored all of her team-high 17 points in the second half as the No. 21 Penn State women's basketball team pummeled Big Ten foe Northwestern, 93-60, last night at The Bryce Jordan Center.

The second-half explosion came after a lackluster first half for the Lady Lions' newest starter.

In the opening stanza, Shepherd missed all four of her shots, including three from behind the 3-point arc, in 15 minutes. Still, Penn State (14-5, 6-3 Big Ten) managed a 38-28 halftime lead.

Starting just her third game of the season, Shepherd wanted to make sure her performance wouldn't be repeated in the second half. And if she couldn't contribute offensively, she'd do it with her defense.

"I didn't play well at all in the first half -- not just offensively, but defensively," Shepherd said. "At halftime, I really tried to focus on forgetting about the first half and just coming on strong and playing my game and doing it on defense."

Shepherd, however, proved the best defense is indeed a good offense.

The Wildcats (8-11, 2-7) closed the 10-point halftime lead to seven points, 40-33, with 17:39 to play in the second half.

Then, Shepherd took over.

Shepherd hit two 3-pointers within the next minute and added three more later in the second half to put the Wildcats out to pasture.

Northwestern coach Don Perrelli, who announced last week he plans to retire at the end of the season, suggested Shepherd's second-half success was a result of the first-half accomplishments of Penn State's post players.

Forward Clara Carter led all scorers in the first half with 11 points, while center Andrea Garner and backup forwards Rashana Barnes and Maren Walseth combined for 12 more.

"They created problems for us both inside and outside," Perrelli said. "When you have to worry about the big players inside, you tend to give something away outside. And Shepherd came out and had a real big second half for them."

Unfortunately for Perrelli, the first half proved to be a fluke for Shepherd.

"I can't just focus on my 3-point shot, because I got to the point where I was forgetting about my penetration and just focusing on my 3," Shepherd said. "Now, I'm not even thinking about it. I'm just shooting the ball and playing basketball."