Even in the second half scoring was harder to find than an open hotel room on Valentine's Day. The only player who dominated in the points department was Spartan junior forward Syreeta Bromfield, who scored 28 points.
What is shocking about Bromfield's stats is that she scored those points in only 26 minutes. That was 16 minutes less than Jess Strom's game-leading 42. Bromfield did not even start the final frame against the Lions and had to come off the bench. Michigan State women's basketball coach Joanne McCallie said there was a good reason for her keeping Bromfield on the bench for so much of the game.
"She played a hard game and she has been sick," McCallie said. "We wanted to give her a rest out there."
Bromfield made the most of her minutes though, helping the Spartans come back at the end of the game and force overtime. The shot that put the game in the extra period was a layup that Michigan State sophomore Julie Pagel made after rebounding her own missed shot.
At that point the fans that had been so stagnant for the entire game were jumping out of their seats and the Lions responded. Penn State came out of the gates in the overtime period to open up a 57-53 lead.
However, the game was made interesting by a Candice Jackson steal and lay-up that brought the game to within two. Jackson was not the only one to pick Strom's pocket. Pagel played the freshman point guard hard and was able to come up with some key steals at the end of the game.
"I was just thinking that we need the ball back," Pagel said. "I took a shot at it and I got it."
The game was still in doubt until Penn State's Jessica Brungo put the nail in the coffin. Brungo, who has struggled from three-point range for most of the season, made an uncontested three-point shot from the left side of the arc to put the Lions up 62-57.
"It might have been my first three point shot since before Christmas or the New Year," Brungo said. "I've still been practicing it and it felt good to be able to make one at a big time."
McCallie said that she knew that Brungo could hurt her team with the outside shot, but that it would have stung a little less if Mazzante would have been the one to make the shot.
Mazzante finished the game with 14 points and was second on the team to Barnes who had 16. However, Michigan State's defense caused the two to have to really work for their points.
They made the whole team work for that matter. The Lions were 31.3 percent from the field for the entire game. Besides Barnes and Mazzante no one Lion was able to make more than three shots.
It may have been an ugly win, but Penn State women's basketball coach Rene Portland said that she is very proud of her team.
"We worked hard for that win," Portland said. "I'm just giving the players the benefit of the doubt that they were down after the lose against Iowa and we just had to take a baby step. This was a right step to get ready for Sunday."
The Lions will find out if that step can get them a win when Illinois comes into Happy Valley for a 1 p.m. game. If the Lions can win it will be their their seventh win in eight chances.
