I MONDAY, Nov. 9, 2009 Height plays in exhibition By Bill Landis COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER When it came down to it, the Lady Lions were just too tall. Despite shooting struggles, the Lad Lions used their size and strength to defeat WOMEN'S Indiana (Pa.) 67- BASKETBALL 49 in an exhibition Sunday at the Bryce Jordan Center. Coming into the Penn State game, lUP coach Jeff Dow knew his team was at a dis advantage when it came to height. Not surprising to the coach, the Crimson Hawks could not find an answer for the Lions down low lUP boasts a lineup of just two players over 6-foot, and its tallest player is forward Sylvie Tafen at 6- foot-2. Penn State, on the other hand, has five players over 6-foot, and only one of those players is shorter than Tafen. The dominance of the Lions down low could be seen early. In the first half, freshman center Daniel Bott/Collegian Freshman guard Gizelle Studevent (25) attempts to dribble the ball past Indiana (Pa.) guard Lauren Taylor in the Lady Lions' exhibition win Sunday at the Bryce Jordan Center. Studevent went 5-for-8 from the field against lUP, providing a spark off the bench for Penn State. Lions fall in Big Ten semis By Kurt Bopp COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER With eight minutes remaining in the first half, No. 18 Indiana looked to break a tie game with an offensive FIELD onslaught on HOCKEY Penn State's goal. Yet the Hoosiers ran into the brick wall that is Ali Meves, jun- for goalkeeper for Indiana the Nittany Lions. Meves dove back and to her right as she swatted an Indiana shot out Penn State of the air in a fully extended dive Though Meves' play was impressive to both coaches, the Hoosiers were too much for Penn State as it was denied a chance to extend its season and its upset bid in a 3-1 loss to Indiana in the Big Ten semifinals Friday at East Lansing, Mich. "[After Meves' dive] I looked at their coach and smiled and I was like, 'Sorry,' coach Char Morett said. "There's great camaraderie between all of us coaches in the Big Ten. Ali totally robbed them. She made the save and got refo- Icers sweep series at Navy to earn sixth straight win By Paul Casella COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER With each stoppage of play, he skated out of his crease, trying to stay loose and ready for any puck coming his way. Although the ICERS No. 6 Penn State a sizable lead over Navy, one thing was still in doubt for freshman goalie Dan Ivanir in his first career start a shutout. But with just less than four min utes left in Saturday's game, a puck slipped past Ivanir, ending the shutout bid. Ivanir made 16 saves in his leers debut and still picked up the win despite the late goal, as the leers won 5-1 a night after beating Nikki Greene received the ball on the high post with her back to the basket. Greene pivoted and put up a shot that was off-target, but her height advantage allowed her to get the rebound over her smaller defender and put the rebound in for two. The second-chance points were crucial for the Lions, especially in the first half when they shot just 31.3 percent from the field. "When you can't throw a brick in the ocean, the best thing to do is try for two oceans, I guess," coach Coquese Washington said about the second-chance points. "We're not gonna stop shooting, but we need to get the offensive rebounds and give ourselves second- and third-shot opportunities." Coming into this season, Washington knew her post players could have an impact that they hadn't made in years past. The players said earlier this season that one problem last year was the lack of passing into the post. That was not the case Sunday, as the Lions outscored lUP 34-10 in the paint. Freshman Marisa Wolfe said she and her teammates down low did a nice job of showing for the guards and giving them a cused and made the second." Though the defeat to the Hoosiers (14-6) ended the Lions' (7-13) season earlier than original ly expected, Morett and her play ers said they have nothing to be ashamed of after Friday's game. "Obviously we're all disappoint ed. Nobody wants to end with a loss," senior co-captain Amy Bonenberger said. "We can hold our heads high. We went down fighting. We really fought in the game, played with a lot of pride, and it's nice to see us play with that." The game started slowly for Penn State as it struggled to get the ball out of its end in the first five minutes. Morgan Fleetwood of the Hoosiers beat Meves high on a corner to take an early 1-0 lead. The Lions rallied midway through the half and dominated play, capping it off with a goal by freshman forward Kelsey Amy off a penalty corner. Both defenses kicked in and sti fled the attackers as Meves made three saves and Indiana's Alex Mann made three. Penn State was outshot 11-4. Morett said both the youth of her forwards and the Indiana defense caused trouble for the Lion attack. "There were times when the Midshipmen 6-4 with junior Teddy Hume in net. "The shutout would have been pretty cool," Ivanir said, "but the guys played really well in front of me, and it's still Penn State • a good way to start my Penn State hockey career." The coaches Navy had wanted to get Ivanir a start, assistant coach Bill Downey said, to reward him for his work during the week. "He's been working hard and putting in the extra effort at prac tices, staying out late," Downey said. "He's trying to do the little things to become a better goal- SPORTS key role victory GTyra Grant and the seniors hope to end their college careers with a bang: psucollegian.com better target for the pass. "We always stress getting two shoulders to the guards and show ing them our numbers," Wolfe said. "Coach always stresses to call for the ball if we want it, so I think we posted up as if we wanted it, not just as a decoy." Wolfe contributed eight points and four rebounds, and joined teammate Janessa Wolff, who had 11 points and nine rebounds, as a scoring threat down low. In the end, the Lions were just too good on the offensive glass for lUP to stay in the game. Even some of the Lions shorter players, including guards Tyra Grant and Renee Womack who each grabbed two offensive rebounds, got into the action in the paint. With that kind of contribution coming from all over, Dow was happy to see his team deal with the disadvantage and play what he thought was a solid game. To e-mail reporter: wmlsoos@psu.edu Studevent provides spark By Audrey Snyder COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Gizelle Studevent took off her warm-up shirt and knelt down near the scorer's table. It was within the first three min utes of the second half and the 5- foot-11 guard was the last member of the freshmen class to enter the game. With the Lady Lions searching for offensive consistency after shooting just 31 percent from the floor in the first half, Studevent provided her team with a boost. The California native helped the Lions' offense by reeling off 10 points in the team's 67-49 win over the visiting Indiana (Pa.). "I would not have guessed that she would have come off the bench and played this well," coach Coquese Washington said. "She shot the ball well, she hit a couple shots early and that gave her some confidence and she played well defensively. I would say she surprised me, in a good way." The freshman entered the game Hannah [Allison] had that great opportunity, - Morett said. It would have been nice, but that's a little bit of the inexperience. With Kels [Amy], she shows a little inexperience when she doesn't take the ball with confidence. She gets a little down on herself." Bonenberger credited her young teammates for stepping up and playing well despite the strong Hoosier pressure. Penn State was able to domi nate the pace of the game for much of the middle of the game until Brooke Borneman scored off a rebound to give the Hoosiers a 2- 1 lead. Less than four minutes later, Corey Brautigam scored the clincher for a 3-1 lead. "They're one of the most solid forward lines," Meves said. "They use their speed very well. The last time we played them it was 4-1. We did a good job of adjusting this game. They have a skilled for ward line." After a victory over Ohio State on Thursday and the strong per formance Friday, Morett was happy to see the "consistency we've been lacking all year" "The team finally got on the same page," Morett said. We were loose going into the tourna ment. We kept saying you only have to prove your talent to us, tender. He definitely earned it." The Icers controlled the puck for much of the weekend, out shooting Navy a combined 108-39 over the two games . Puck control was especially important for Penn State Saturday, as it dressed only five defensemen instead of the usual six after sophomore Dan Petrick injured his shoulder in Friday night's game. On top of changing the forecheck systems so the defense would have to cover less gourtd, the Icers kept the puck out of their Benedict A. Samuel, Collegian Freshman center Nikki Greene (54) shoots over Indiana (Pa.) defend ers in Penn State's 67-49 preseason win Sunday. At 6-foot-4, Greene helped provide the Lady Lions a significant size advantage. with the Lions up by 10 points and it only took her two and a half min utes to make her presence felt. Studevent received a pass from sophomore Emily Phillips and unleashed a jump shot right in front of the Penn State bench. The basket was the guard's first, and just one of five that she made from nearly the same spot on the floor. The guard's production was helpful as it helped the Lions extend their lead and made up for the lack of scoring from last year's top scorer, Tyra Grant. The pre season All-Big Ten selection had what Washington called an "off night," and recorded eight points while only shooting 3-for-16 from the floor. Studevent shot 5-for-8 from the field and made the first three shots she took. "Hitting those shots definitely Stepp cohegian Hannah Allison (6) moves the ball against Michigan State Oct. 31. right here. We know we're a strong hold our heads high, - Morett "We have the talent to win. We left everything on the field and can To e-mail reporter: kabs2ol@psu.edu own zone much of Saturday, tak ing 60 shots the third time this year they've recorded 60 or more shots on goal. - We tried to make it easier on our defense because they were going to be playing a lot of min utes,- sophomore forward Paul Daley said. "We just wanted to keep the 'D' as rested as possible with the situation." The leers also stopped Navy on all five of the Midshipmen's power play attempts Saturday and have now killed off 12 of their last 14 penalties. Not only did the leers hold Navy scoreless on its power plays, but junior Chris Pronchik scored a breakaway, short-handed goal after a penalty on Daley to start the scoring Saturday night. Read how the rest of the freshman class played Sunday on the Washington's Post blog: psucollegian.com THE DAILY COLLEGIAN helped," Studevent said of her play during the second half. think we just needed to pick it up all together as a team, but yeah I guess I contributed." The guard's teammates echoed her thoughts, as junior Julia Trogele said Studevent helped establish the tempo and energy during the second half. Studevent partially attributed her success to watching the game from the bench during the first half. She said she watched how teammate Zhaque Gray played the position and when Washington told her to go in she knew she need to do what the Lions recruit ed her to do shoot the ball. "We knew that she could shoot the ball and we knew she could score," Washington said. - But on gameday I tell the freshmen you just gotta go out there and play and I thought Gizelle did a good job of just going out there and playing." To e-mail reporter: aass22o@psu.edu - iPronchikl has a ton of speed," Daley said. - So anytime he gets any room to use that, he blows by the defenders. and Saturday he did just that and then beat the goalie with a nice move.- The Icers have now won six straight and haven't lost in regula tion since Oct 9 at Ohio. During the streak. Penn State has outscored opponents 39-14, scor ing at least four goals every game. "It's huge." Daley said of the winning streak. "because this is definitely one of our biggest week ends of the year coming up. We're going on the road to URI, so we wanted to keep the momentum going and hopefully knock them off." To e-mail reporter: plcso32@psu.edu
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