I THURSDAY, Dec. 6, 2001 Lady Lions ranked foe By Rick Burchfield COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER I rxb279@psu.edu The Penn State women's basketball team will get another chance to beat a ranked team tonight. The No. 21 Lady Lions will travel to Norfolk, Va., to take on No. 23 Old Dominion at 7:35 p.m. It will be the sec ond time the Lions will have faced a top 25 team this season. The Lions played No. 5 Stanford earlier in the year. The game against the Cardinal did not go quite the way the Lions would have liked, as Penn State lost 90-68 in the finals of the Rainbow/Wahine Clas sic championship game. In that game the Lions showed their youth by shoot ing at a 31.3-percent clip from the field. Penn State head coach Rene Port land knows that it is important for her team to come away with a win over a ranked team. "We fell short against Stanford and they were top 10 so we have to attack the next grouping of top 25 and both of these teams fit right in there," Port land said. Old Dominion is a team with rich tradition. It has won three national titles and has hosted two Final Fours. They have had many outstanding ath letes including Nancy Lieberman- Cline, a National Basketball Hall of Fame member. Like past teams, this year's version of the Monarchs has high expectations. They are only 2-3, but two of those losses have come against ranked oppo nents. Portland knows her team will Rex Grossman drops back for a pass Yee144942" (61 1-1,04/v THE DAILLICOLLEG ii• • next semester? How will I find roommites? I ne• a a fly ~1.1111.1 "a -jai to take on in Virginia have to play at its best if they are to beat the Monarchs. "(Okeisha) Howard and (Sharron) Francis are great three-point shooters from ODU that we have to be con cerned about," Portland said. "On our side we have to be ready to adjust and not to let them get comfortable, so we have to change things up." Ibnight's game will be important for the obvious reasons, but it will be a lit tle more special for sophomore captain Kelly Mazzante. Mazzante's brother Louis is a junior baseball player at Old Dominion and he will be in attendance at the game. "I am very excited about his game," Mazzante said. "I get to see him and my parents, not that I don't get to see my parents at every game here." . What also makes this game more unique for Mazzante is that the Mon archs were the first team that she ever played against at the collegiate level. She hopes that this game will go better than the first she played against them. "ODU was my first college game ever," Mazzante said. "I just didn't want to screw up and I still did. It was such a blur because it was my first game." Mazzante still scored 14 points in 16 minutes during that 99-72 victory for the Lions. That game came early last season when Mazzante was still get ting acclimated to the college game. Now as a captain and a leader Maz zante will try to guide the Lions to the win over the women's basketball pow erhouse. Grossman named AP Player of the Year By Richard Rosenblatt ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER Rex Grossman might remember his record-setting year at Florida more for the sting of a season-shattering loss. Despite a gallant effort by Grossman, Florida lost to Tennessee 34-32 last week and missed a chance to play for the Southeastern Conference title and a spot in the BCS' national championship game in the Rose Bowl. The loss did little to hurt the stature of the, nation's top-rated passer, who was chosen yesterday as The Associated Press College Player of the Year. "Our season fell short of what we hoped," Grossman said. "We're a little down in Gainesville. I thought I had a pretty good year, but two losses is kind of all we can think about right now" Grossman received 18 votes in ballot ing by the 72 members of the AP college 101 DAYS 'TIL ST. PATTY'S DAY Where will I live next semester? How wilt fkwi mommotas? I need tuff for my new apcutmemt. I need a job} Celleillan ChnifiellS Find the solution in Collegian Classifieds. Adam , ..vey/Collepan Penn State sophomore shooting guard Kelly Mazzante discusses strategy with head coach Rene Portland. Mar_ante's brother plays baseball for Old Dominion. football poll board which includes mem ber newspapers, TV and radio stations. He edged Miami quarterback Ken Dorsey by three votes, with Nebraska quarterback Eric Crouch third with 12 votes. Oklahoma safety Roy Williams was fourth with seven votes, and Indiana quarterback Antwaan Randle El and Miami left tackle Bryant McKumie tied for fifth with five votes each. "There are some tremendous players around the country and I am privileged to be in their company and receive this award," Grossman said. Gators coach Steve Spurrier said the sophomore "richly deserved" the honor. "He is probably the best pure passer of the quarterbacks I have coached and is one of the most courageous players," he said. "He loves to compete and play the game." • Beaver Hill • Cedarbrook •Alexander Court • The Diplomat 0 0 Ca • It pays to live at 5 I o c as Li 4 L. , 4 a- - - E .-- : L A ' IL YA' ILE Eciti .1 / 4 _ri x s• 8 Factor in our convenient location .4.. from campus which saves ;.° you time, bus fare, and parking! El A / A 309 E. Beaver Ave State College, PA a. 400mepaa .. •lIM saneag.tmoo nweg.iewoidia au; SPORTS 814-237-0363 www.awandsons.co Grossman is among four finalists for the Heisman Trophy, to be awarded Sat urday night. He's also up for Walter Camp player of the year, the Maxwell Award and the Davey O'Brien national quarterback of the year. With Grossman at the controls,- Spurrier finally closed his revolving door of quarterbacks, which began after 1996 Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel departed. Grossman, a Parade All-American from Bloomington, Ind., didn't even know he'd be running the Din 'N Gun until finally beating out Brock Berlin for the job. Once he got going, the numbers start ed piling up. The nation's leader in total offense threw for 3,896 yards and 34 touchdowns. Grossman's biggest game was a 464- yard, five-TD effort in just over three quarters of a 44-15 win at LSU on Oct. 6. THE DAILY COLLEGIAN Hoosiers dismiss Cameron By Michael Marot ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER BLOOMINGTON, hid. Victories in four of the last five games were not good enough to save the job of Cam Cameron, who was fired yester day after five years as Indiana foot ball coach. The firing was announced at a news conference at Assembly Hall, adjacent to Indiana's Memorial Sta dium. Cameron, who had a losing record each season and won only 18 of 55 games, had three years remaining on an eight-year contract. He was 18- 37 - overall and 12-28 in the Big Ten. "Five years is an important time to demonstrate success on the field and the classroom. We expect to be suc cessful on the field and the class room," said athletic director Michael McNeely. "There is not evidence that there will be further success in the football program" with Cameron, McNeely said He said Indiana would honor the rest of Cameron's contract, which will cost the university about $500,000. McNeely will head a search com mittee for a new coach, although he does not yet have a short list of pos sible candidates. "We are looking for candidates with outstanding leadership skills and experience in leading a Div. I-A program, who can find a way to win on the field and in the classroom," McNeely said. The 40-year-old Cameron came to Indiana in 1997 after three years as quarterbacks coach with the Wash ington Redskins and the previous 10 years as an assistant at Michigan. The job with the Hoosiers was his first as a head coach. His first season, after he replaced the fired Bill Mallory, produced a 2-9 record. The Hoosiers improved to 4-7 each of the next two years but dipped to 3-8 in 2000 despite having one of the nation's most exciting players, quarterback Antwaan Randle El. This past season, the first in which Cameron fielded all of his own recruits, the Hoosiers made progress after starting 1-5. Their only loss over the last five games was to Penn State, and they won three games in November for the first time since their 1967 Rose Bowl season.
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