After not winning on the road for 13 months, Janessa Wolff finally got time to "jump around."
When Brianne O'Rourke stole the ball from Michigan's Jessica Minnfield with only seconds left in the game, the senior secured the Penn State women's basketball team the opportunity to celebrate on an opponent's own floor -- and in the comfort of the visiting locker room.
"Oh my gosh, you should have heard the locker room before I came down," Penn State assistant coach Itoro Coleman told the Penn State Sports Network Monday night.
Wolff said the post-game scene in the locker room was full of players jumping around, as the team "got over the hump."
O'Rourke's steal and the following six free throws by Tyra Grant clinched the win for the Lady Lions.
What was once a two-point game and Michigan ball quickly turned into an eight-point win when the free throws came after an intentional foul call against Michigan's Carly Benson, a personal foul by Veronica Hicks and a technical foul against Wolverine head coach Kevin Borseth.
The Lady Lions (9-13, 4-8 Big Ten) won on the road for the first time since beating Michigan State since Jan. 5, 2008 despite not making a basket for the final 5:32.
O'Rourke, who ranks third in the Big Ten in minutes per game with 35.3, almost never got the chance to seal the win.
When she was called for a defensive foul with 15:06 left in the game, the senior was forced to sit on the bench with four fouls.
For almost seven minutes, the Lady Lions kept pace with Michigan (10-14, 3-10), as they outscored the home team by one with the point guard on the bench.
When she returned, Penn State went up by as much as nine as it relied on its fast-break offense and defense.
In order to keep O'Rourke out of fouling situations, the Lady Lions relied on their zone defense. Michigan -- the conference's leader in 3-pointers made -- shot just 31.8 percent from long-range.
Some of the misses on 3's and in jumpers helped lead to transition points for Penn State, as on one play, O'Rourke grabbed the ball after Wolff blocked Carmen Reynolds' jumper, and subsequently led to a fast-break bucket for Grant.
"They went to that zone and we missed some wide-open shots," Borseth said in the post-game press conference. "They had some deep sets and they went down and laid two or three of them in just boom, boom, boom, that fast. We had to re-adjust our offense to make sure we had people that could get back a little."
The win means the Lady Lions end a 14-game road losing streak and move into seventh place in the conference.
Wolff said the victory was important because she said the team didn't play "our best game" in the first half.
It also was a change in that the Lady Lions finished off a close contest.
"We've been in that situation before," Wolff said. "But this time, we came out with a win. We were composed."
