By Tony Calvello

Not too many members of the No. 6 Penn State Lady Lions basketball team have much to complain about this season. The scorers are all getting their touches, the three freshmen are all seeing significant playing time, and the team is winning, but at the end of the bench there is one player who shouldn't be too happy with her role.

Junior Ashli Schwab was the team's only "center" last season, a season which ended in Knoxville, Tenn., in a one-sided loss to a nationally renowned Vols team. The Lady Lions were pounded on the glass, getting out-rebounded by Pat Summitt's team, 54-24. Schwab had just three of those rebounds in almost 30 minutes of action.

So Penn State women's basketball coach Rene Portland went out and got two big freshmen, 6-foot-6 Reicina Russell and 6-foot-4 Amanda Brown, to come to Happy Valley to learn under Schwab's tutelage and to give her a chance to rest her bum knee.

However, Schwab's playing time has nose-dived since the beginning of the season, while Russell's and Brown's time has gone up. This was especially apparent after last week's games when Schwab was on the court for 15 total minutes against Iowa and Wisconsin.

"She misses too many ducks for me," Portland said when asked why Schwab has been the low woman on the totem pole of late. "When asked the question, 'How much time have you given, besides the time that I make you?' her answer was none. So I said, 'You'll go in after Hazel [Joseph].' "

But Schwab refuses to shut down and be a detriment to this team. Instead she seems happy with the role that she has put herself into. She likes to mentor the younger post players and insists that she'll play whatever role she's told, just to help the team.

"I try to talk [Russell and Brown] through specific things," Schwab said. "I've taken on that leader role because I know that they may have questions about plays and I want to be there for them."

Not only have Schwab's minutes dropped, from 23 per game last year to 16 this year, but her points and rebounding per game have also declined. Last season, as a sophomore, Schwab was grabbing close to six rebounds and scoring almost eight points per contest, but this season both those numbers have slid down to three boards and three points a game.

It's apparent to Portland that it wouldn't hurt Schwab if she learned a thing or two from Russell and Brown.

"I looked in the gym yesterday and there's Reicina and Amanda just shooting," Portland said. "I don't care if it's just 15 minutes a day, but you have to make basketball a part of your life, and you can't take a day off."

And, Portland said, Schwab has taken too many "days off" this season.