Claxton earns spot on All-Big Ten squad
Penn State junior forward Geary Claxton has been named a preseason first-team All-Big Ten selection by the Big Ten media voters. The announcement was made yesterday at Big Ten Basketball Media Day in Chicago as Claxton, senior point-guard Ben Luber and Head Coach Ed DeChellis joined other conference team representatives in meeting with approximately 200 members of the media.
Claxton is just the second Penn State player ever named to the pre-season Big Ten All-Conference Team since the Nittany Lions began Big Ten play in basketball in the 1992-93 season. He is the first since guard Joe Crispin was named to the pre-season first-team at the beginning of the 2000-01 campaign and went on to earn post-season first-team accolades as well.
The 6-5, 215-pound Claxton, who is the leader in rebounds (7.5 rpg) and steals (1.4 spg) and second in scoring (15.2 ppg) among Big Ten returnees, was joined on the pre-season All-Big Ten Team by forwards D.J. White (Indiana, Jr.) and Alando Tucker (Wisconsin, Jr.), guard Adam Haluska (Iowa, Sr.) and center Greg Oden (Ohio State, Fr.). Tucker was named the pre-season Big Ten Player-of-the-Year.
Post player selected to all-conference unit
Senior forward/center Amanda Brown was selected to the Preseason All-Big Ten team by both the conference's head coaches and conference media members. Additionally, the Lady Lions were picked to finish fourth in both preseason polls.
Brown was a second team All-Big Ten selection as she started 29 games last season. She was one of two players in the Big Ten (Ohio State's Jessica Davenport) to finish in the Top 10 in the conference in scoring, rebounding, blocked shots and field goal percentage. For the second-straight year, the Montreal, Quebec native played with the Canada Senior National Team at the 2006 FIBA World Championship in September.
The Lady Lions are looking to improve on their 13-16 overall record and 6-10 Big Ten mark from last season. In addition to Brown, Penn State will rely heavily on junior co-captain Kam Gissendanner, junior guard Adrienne Squire and sophomore point guard Brianne O'Rourke.
Field hockey attains No. 3 seed in tourney
The Penn State field hockey team has drawn the No. 3 seed in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament and will the sixth seed Northwestern in the first round of the tournament on Friday, November 3 at 3:00 p.m. in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Penn State-Northwestern game will be the third game of the day and will be preceded by No. 2 Indiana vs. No. 7 Michigan State at 10:00 a.m. and host and No. 4 Michigan vs. No. 5 Iowa at 12:30 p.m.
Penn State ended the regular season tied with Indiana and Michigan for second place in the Big Ten with 4-2 conference records. In the head-to-head tiebreaker, all three teams had 1-1 records against each other, therefore the second tiebreaker was brought into play, which is record against the other conference teams beginning at the top. Since Indiana defeated first place Ohio State and the Nittany Lions and Wolverines both lost to the Buckeyes, Indiana drew the No. 2 seed. After continuing that part of the tiebreaker, Michigan and Penn State remained tied since both teams had defeated Iowa, Northwestern and Michigan State.
The Nittany Lions were awarded the No. 3 seed based on the third tiebreaker, which is goal differential.
