Basketball: Women's
Lady Lions clinch outright Big Ten title by beating Nebraska
The No. 7 Lady Lions clinched the outright Big Ten regular season title with an 82-67 victory over No. 20 Nebraska on Sunday night in Lincoln.
Coming of a loss on the road to unranked Minnesota on Thursday, Penn State needed a rebound win to secure the conference title.
The home crowd was strong for the Huskers, but junior Maggie Lucas had a career-best eight 3-pointers for 34 points and nine rebounds on the night.
The Huskers started out hot, leading Penn State 6-2 just two minutes into the contest. After tying the score at eight with a jumper from Lucas, the Lions held the lead for the remainder of the half and went to the locker room with a 38-32 halftime lead.
The Lions were able to hold Nebraska’s leading scorers Lindsey Moore and Jordan Hooper to only 11 points and five points in the first half, respectively. Moore picked up three fouls in the first half, but didn't commit another foul for the remainder of the game.
Senior point guard Alex Bentley added 13 points on the night, but picked up her fourth foul with just under nine minutes to play, as foul trouble plagued the Lions again as it did on Thursday night.
After shooting just 40 percent in the first half, the Lions came out of the locker room hot shooting 69.2 percent from the field in the second half. They also shot 4-for-6 from three-point range in the second.
Despite having three fouls, Lucas continued to tear up the second half, dropping 16 points and going 8-for-13 from three-point range on the night. Senior center Nikki Greene also managed to play aggressively on three fouls, putting up 10 points from the post and snagging six rebounds.
The Lions looked to be running away with it early in the first, but a three from Hooper put the Huskers back within three as Penn State lead just 48-45 with 15:31 to play.
The game remained close until Bentley stretched the Lions lead to 11 with back-to-back field goals with just under 10 minutes left.
Penn State put the game out of reach off an Ariel Edwards layup taking one of its largest leads of the night leading, 76-60 with just 2:34 left to play. Though the Huskers tried to make a comeback off two layups by Moore, the Lions were able to hold them off for the victory.
The Lions will face the winner of Minnesota and Ohio State on Friday to determine who they will play in the first round of the Big Ten tournament beginning March 8.