Welcome again from beautiful and scenic Happy Valley for today's Lady Lions matchup with Wisconsin. Im your trust sidekick Lady Lion reporter Andrew Wible and I'll be brining you every bead of sweat, impact of fouls and slaps on the floor.
Wisconsin comes into the game 10 days after trouncing Penn State in Madison, Wis. 79-52.
The Lady Lions come into this one with revenge on their minds, along with devising a gameplan to stop Wisconsin's prolific-scoring guard Jolene Anderson. A senior, Anderson has already eclipsed 2,000 career points and leads the Big Ten with a 20.1 per game average.
Here are you starting lineups
Penn State
G - Brianne O'Rourke
G - Tyra Grant
G - Mashea Williams
G - Kam Gissendanner
F - Rashida Mark
Wisconsin
G - Jolene Anderson
G - Janese Banks
G - Rae Lin D'Alle
G - Teah Grant
F - Danielle Ward
15:49 remaining first half: PSU 8 Wisky 6
After an early 6-0 run by Wisconsin to start the game, the Lady Lions have responded with a quick 8-0 run of their own, fueled by steals and fastbreak points. Expect both teams to settle down and the runs to get smaller and the teams to start trading baskets.
10:40 remaining first half: Wisky 17 PSU 14
Jolene Anderson has made her presence felt already. The high-scoring guard just delivered a 3 from the corner and a layup. She already has seven points and as they say on NBA Jam "She's heating up"
7:38 remaining first half: Wisky 22 PSU 14
Just call me the prophet cause Anderson has already reached double-digits with 11 points and the Badgers have staked a decent lead. The Lady Lions have been hurt by offensive fouls, turnover and missed layups, highlighted by a 15-second volley of four missed putback layups. Penn State does not look sharp thus far and need to step its game up.
2:25 remaining first half: Wisky 36 PSU 24
I hate to sound like a broken record, but Jolene Anderson is a beast, flat out!!! For a good portion of the first half she single-handedly outscored the Lady Lions. She has cooled off a little, or maybe Penn State has stepped it up a little bit, but Anderson currently has 18 points, and she's done it in a variety of ways from hitting threes, to runners in the paint. She is a gifted scoring and putting on a display today.
Halftime: Wisky 40 PSU 28
The first frame was dominated by Anderson, but the Lady Lions were able to keep their deficit reasonable and are still very much in the game. If they can find a way to just slow down Anderson and forward Lin Zastrow (12 points) they can get back in the game. Expect a Penn State run early in the second half and for the game to morph into a nail-biter.
Quick side note, I don't really know why, but I love Wisconsin's uniforms. They're simple, yet classy and the red and white really go well together.
Halftime entertainment today is the Bucket Boys from Chicago. Pretty cool group playing five-gallon buckets as drums. Kinda gives me an idea, maybe I could start the first KFC bucket drum group or coffee can drum group. Look out world, I'll be coming to a halftime show near you sometime soon.
As for the game, here are some quickie halftime stats
Penn State
Kam Gissendanner - 9 points
Brianne O'Rourke - 7 points, 4 assists
Wisconsin
Jolene Anderson - 18 points
Lin Zastrow - 12 points
The Lady Lions only shot 34.5 percent in the first half. They can't stay that cold the entire game, so expect some more scoring from Penn State in the second half.
15:51 remaining second half: Wisky 47 PSU 34
About that early second half run . . . Wisconsin has actually be able to extend its lead, mostly behind Anderson and Zastrow who have combined for more points (35) than the entire Penn State team. It's still early though and the Lady Lions have not gotten many calls to go their way. It got so bad that during the last timeout, Coquese Washington walked 20 feet onto the floor to air her grievances with the refs.
13:51 remaining second half: Wisky 51 PSU 34
The Lady Lions just can't find the basket. While Anderson (23 points) continues to light it up, Penn State has gone ice cold. The Lady Lions haven't even been able to cash in from the free throw line where they have missed seven straight attempts. If they want to have any chance of getting back in the game they have to make the freebies with the clock stopped and extend the game. This game is very close to getting out of hand and reaching blowout proportions.
7:37 remaining second half: Wisky 60 PSU 46
Every time the Lady Lions appear to mount a comeback, Wisconsin finds a way to sequester the run. Anderson hasn't scored since last update, but Zastrow has taken charge and shown her versatility by banging away inside for layups and stepping outside and draining long-range shots. Only a freshman, Zastrow is a straight-up baller and will be making some noise in the Big Ten for years to come.
3:56 remaining second half: Wisky 71 PSU 52
In the words of former Monday Night Football announcer "Dandy" Don Meredith, "Turn out the lights, the party's over." This game is over. The crowd's heading for the exits with the Lady Lions down by 18. Anderson has increased her total to 27 points and is awaiting a foul shot after the timeout for a potential and one. All that remains to be seen is if she can eclipse 30 points for the night cause this game's done.
Final: Wisconsin 77 Penn State 59
This is a rare sight. The Lady Lions have been almost unbeatable at home and were just embarrassed by 10th place team in the conference. We're heading down for the press conference and will give you more updates from the players and coaches.
Postgame quotes:
Wisconsin head coach Lisa Stone
On the win:
"We broke history today. It's never happened that Wisconsin has come to Penn State and won. And the fact that {Anderson] put her team on her back and did a great job, especially in the first half."
On the importance of Penn State's missed free throws:
"If they make those free throws it's a different game."
Jolene Anderson
On how her scoring looked almost effortless at times:
"It's never easy, Penn State played great defense on me in the second half, they were always following me."
Penn State
Kam Gissendanner
On the disappointment of the loss:
"It's very disappointing, but we're just going to keep going at it. We're going to go to practice Tuesday and work harder than ever."
Tyra Grant
On missing nine consecutive free throws as a team:
"It was kind of frustrating cause you don't know what's going wrong and you have to start thinking 'What am I doing that's wrong?' "
Coquese Washington
On what went wrong:
"We ..."
Pause
"We ..."
Pause
"We need to get a little tougher."
"We just need to get tougher."
On rebounding difficulties:
"We have not had the tenacity on the boards that we need. We haven't gotten smaller, we've gotten less tough as the season has gone on."
On the defense:
"I've been disappointed in our defense from day one. We'll continue to tinker around and find the thing that works for us defensively. [Pause] So that's what we'll do."