Basketball: Women's
Lady Lions notes: Candice Agee and Big Ten outlook
The Lady Lions’ only recruit thus far for the 2012-13 season is a mighty good one, it seems.
Forward/center Candice Agee from California was named to the 2012 Mcdonald’s Girls All-American game Thursday. She’s the third Lady Lion on the team to receive that honor, joining guards Maggie Lucas and Dara Taylor. She’s the only Big Ten representative on the 24-player roster.
Agee will give the Lady Lions an interesting dynamic at center next year, as they’ll have a senior (Nikki Greene), junior (Talia East), sophomore (Tori Waldner) and Agee the freshman. Greene is the best of the bunch and will receive the bulk of the playing time, but you have to figure that the experience of the older players will be big for Waldner and Agee.
In other Lady Lions news, Thursday’s win over Wisconsin coupled with the losses of Ohio State and Nebraska puts Penn State in a good situation. The Lady Lions’ remaining schedule looks like this:
Feb. 12 at Northwestern
Feb. 16 at No. 19 Purdue
Feb. 20 vs. No. 10 Ohio State
Feb. 26 vs. Minnesota
Meanwhile, the top four teams in the Big Ten look like this:
1. No. 19 Purdue (9-2)
2. No. 18 Penn State (9-3)
3. No. 10 Ohio State (8-3)
4. No. 15 Nebraska (8-3)
Therefore, winning out means the Lady Lions win the Big Ten since they own the tiebreaker against Nebraska. Of course, that’s much easier said than done - Purdue and Ohio State are both excellent teams and Northwestern and Minnesota are on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament.
That doesn’t mean coach Coquese Washington isn’t happy about it, though. When Lady Lions sports information director Kristina Petersen told her that Nebraska and Ohio State were losing on Thursday, Washington smiled and clenched her fists.