A red-colored ball was drawn at center court for the Big Ten Tournament, and the Penn State women's basketball team will continue to see red for a few more days.

The Lady Lions (13-15, 6-10 Big Ten) can reminisce about their 80-73 victory over Wisconsin (11-18, 5-11) and think ahead to the red uniform of the No. 1 seed Ohio State.

"I'm thrilled for them," Penn State associate head coach Annie Troyan said on the Penn State Sports Network. "They get another shot at Ohio State."

Penn State women's basketball coach Rene Portland wasn't available for comment after the game, but before the game she was already talking about the spring. The possibilities of the future were already on her mind.

"It is going to be a very crucial spring for this team," Portland said.

But against the Badgers, the Lady Lions were able to keep the focus closer to the present. Three players that were around to see last year's team advance to the second round because of a bye, found the path to success.

Sophomore shooting guard Kamela Gissendanner, who redshirted last season, netted 18 points, while junior forward Amanda Brown and sophomore guard Adrienne Squire each had 14.

One newcomer, "The Vegas Girl," as Portland refers to junior forward Charity Renfro, showed her importance on the glass. She was the stabilizer with 13 rebounds. The exuberant Renfro found her ups and downs throughout the game, taking a hard crash to the hardwood at one point. Yet she stayed in the game for 32 minutes, taking minutes from Brown, who only played 24 because of foul trouble.

After finding her role as a defensive specialist for Penn State out of junior college, Renfro missed the Lady Lions' late-season loss to Wisconsin. This time, Penn State out-rebounded the Badgers, grabbing 37 boards.

The Lady Lions went into a lull after the first half. After a 36-27 halftime lead, Wisconsin tightened the score to 36-34 with more than two minutes gone. Then Brown got stuffed for a jump ball, and Anderson drained a 3-pointer to give the Badgers a 37-36 lead to finish the 10-0 run.

Freshman point guard Brianne O'Rourke heeded the call to action and sunk a trey to give Penn State back the lead at 41-38. The Badgers would never regain the lead and lost its hope to continue on through the Big Ten Tournament.

Portland called trainer Andra Thomas "MVP" before the game for keeping the kids fresh all season, but Troyan wouldn't even classify that as necessary. The toughness has been drilled into these players all year.

"These kids have played a whole lot of minutes this year," Troyan said. "We're past the fatigue point. We kept telling these kids they aren't tired."

They will all have to muster a little bit more out of their red faces. After four players played more than 30 minutes yesterday, Penn State will face the Buckeyes (25-2, 15-1) at noon today. Troyan believes there is more to come after losing, 61-59, to the Buckeyes in the final seconds of Sunday's game.

"After last weekend, we have to believe," Troyan said. "The only kids that have to believe are the 10 on that bench."