Yesterday afternoon served as a reminder of the Penn State women's basketball team's once proud past in a win against Wisconsin.

At halftime, the Lady Lions honored the 15th anniversary of the program's first ascent to No. 1 in the polls. Despite wearing the same baby-blue lettered jerseys worn by that 1990-1991 team, the Lady Lions hardly resembled their predecessors that were 11-0 at this point in the season.

Instead, they looked like the team that came into the game 6-8 overall and winless (0-3) in the Big Ten, as it shot 37.5 percent from the field, clinging to a 28-27 lead against an injury-riddled Wisconsin team. Following the intermission, Penn State shot 58.7 perfect from the floor to run away with a 69-54 win, its first win in the Big Ten.

After Wisconsin tied the game at 35 with 17:30 left, Penn State went on a 15-2 run, effectively putting the game out of reach at 51-37 with just under eight minutes to go.

The scoring runs began when Penn State women's basketball coach Rene Portland switched to a pressure defense, which Wisconsin could not adjust to, as the Badgers shot 27.8 percent in the second half, down nearly 10 from their first half output.

"Our defensive energy in the second half waned due to our poor shooting and they went right at us," Wisconsin women's basketball coach Lisa Stone said. "They put some pressure on us and we looked like we'd never seen the press before." Mashea Williams went right at Wisconsin on both ends of the floor, as she shut down Jolene Anderson, who had 10 points in the first half, but just five in the second. On the offensive end, she attacked the Badgers' front court, which was in foul trouble early.

Stone moved Jolene to point guard in the absence of Janese Banks, part of the reason the pressure worked so well.

"They were walking the ball upcourt and giving Jolene a lot of time," Portland said. "We needed to pressure her and put the ball in the hands of the posts and Mashea did a great job not letting her get the ball back."

The scoring runs of the second half were a far departure from previous Big Ten contests. Against then-No.11 Michigan State on Jan. 5, the Lions did not score in the final 7:14, allowing the Badgers to score 20 unanswered points, ending in a 75-53 final score.

Not so perfect ending

Although the Lady Lions managed to break through in the Big Ten yesterday, sophomore guard Adrienne Squire did not find the baby-blue jerseys as friendly as her teammates.

Squire had never missed a free throw in her first year and a half in the blue and white. Perfect in 47 attempts to start the season, she hit her first three yesterday before clanging one off the iron with under 30 seconds to go. She was 16 shots away from tying the NCAA Division-I record of 66.

"It was an incredible feat," Portland said. "She had never missed in a Lady Lion uniform, and it was in somebody else's uniform, it wasn't even in hers. Maybe we should've kept her in hers, but those things come to an end. It was an incredible thing to watch."