When the Penn State Lady Lions beat eventual Big Ten co-champion Michigan State a month-and-a-half ago, it appeared as though having two great players and a cast of thousands might be enough to win a third straight conference title.

But a lot has changed in the conference in that last month-and-a-half, and Sunday afternoon, when Ohio State's 69-58 victory against the Lady Lions clinched it the other half of the Big Ten crown, proved that Penn State's fantastic guard duo of Jess Strom and Tanisha Wright could not win on its own.

This is not to say that Ohio State is exactly a poster child for the necessity of depth on a successful basketball team.

In fact, just four Buckeyes managed to score in the game, but with three players scoring 16 points or more, including 29 from conference player of the year candidate and leading scorer Jessica Davenport, Ohio State exposed the Lady Lions' desperate need for a consistent third scorer.

In Sunday's loss, Wright scored 29 points of her own, while Strom chipped in 12, but big-scoring games from its biggest gun has not always transferred into victories for Penn State this year.

Wright scored 30 points in a season-opening loss to Texas, and if her six-point performance in last month's devastating loss to Purdue is treated as an aberration and not considered, Wright's scoring average is higher in Penn State losses than it is in Penn State wins.

All this brings the inconsistent play of Penn State's other contributors into the foreground.

Earlier in the season, it appeared as though sophomore guard Jen Harris might be the player to step up and serve as the team's third scoring option, but since her 22 points in Penn State's December victory over Ohio State, and 26 in a rout of Illinois, Harris has struggled mightily.

Sunday, Harris scored just three points on 1-of-7 shooting in 27 minutes off of the bench.

She was removed from the starting lineup after the loss to Purdue in favor of senior Jenny Brenden, but after a couple of productive games, Brenden was a non-factor against the Buckeyes.

Brenden played a hefty 31 minutes before fouling out but took only one shot and finished scoreless.

In a press conference shortly after the lineup switch, Penn State coach Rene Portland said that she fully expected Brenden to start for the rest of the season.

"We have always stayed with our lineups for a long time and I don't expect that I would [change the starting lineup] again," Portland said. "We don't need that disruption again. That's more of my concern right now, to stay with the consistency and to get more from our bench."

Freshman guard Amber Bland, who averages nearly 15 minutes per game off of the bench, also had a rocky game against Ohio State, and logged only six minutes in the contest.

With the reserve guards struggling, it may be the play of the Lady Lions much-maligned frontcourt that will have to step up its offensive production in postseason play.

Pivot players Ashli Schwab and Amanda Brown both logged solid games Sunday, scoring eight and six points respectively.