Individual success for lady cagers

By DAN GIGLER
Collegian Staff Writer

The No. 18 Penn State women's basketball team (16-5, 8-3 Big Ten) has been red-hot of late, but for those suffering from the winter doldrums, Punxsutawney Phil has predicted an early spring. To celebrate the prognosticating powers of Pennsylvania's renowned rodent, here is the post-groundhog edition of women's basketball notes.

Having her Phil

The countdown is T-minus 30 points for Lady Lion center Andrea Garner to reach the 1,000-point plateau. Garner, averaging 14.3 points per game, is on track to topple the mark in a home contest, next Friday against No. 2 Purdue. Garner also needs only five more blocks to tally 100 for her career. She is currently second in the Big Ten in that category, with 38 blocks and a 1.81-per-game average. In other Garner news, through today she is second in fan voting for Big Ten Most Valuable Player in an interactive poll on the conference's Web site (www.bigten.org).

Spring in her step

Not only is junior guard Helen Darling light years ahead of the rest of the Big Ten in assists with 159 and a 7.57-per-game average, she also was named Big Ten co-Player of the Week for this week, along with Purdue phenom Stephanie White-McCarty. This was the second time this season Darling garnered the award. Darling also is having a banner year from the charity stripe, hitting 104 of 133 foul shots, including a team-record 14 of 15 in an early season performance against Temple.

Out of the shadows

Speaking of blocked shots, Lion freshman Rashana Barnes already has etched her name in the hallowed pages of the Penn State women's basketball record book. She currently has 29 blocked shots, the most ever by a freshman. The previous mark of 25 was accomplished by Kahadeejah Herbert, who set the record as a freshman in the 1981-82 season. Barnes is currently fifth in the Big Ten in that department.

Spring chickens

The Lions already have made bets on their future in the form of a pair of Street & Smith's high school All-Americans. Nicole Anaejionu and Ashley Luke signed letters of intent to play at Penn State next season. Anaejionu is a 6-foot-2 center from Southfield, Mich., and Luke, a 5-foot-6 guard, hails from Aurora, Ill. Luke will be the second member of her family in as many years to don blue and white -- her brother R.J. is a freshman on the football team.