14 I Friday, Nov. 13, 2009 Three-point shooting expected to improve By Alex Angert COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Thirty seconds into the game, iyra Grant lined up with her feet behind the 3-point line, fired a shot and watched the ball bounce off the rim and into the hands of a defender. Although she was the WOMEN S first Lady Lion to miss a - BASKETBALL point shot, she wasn’t the last. By the end of the game the Lady Lions missed 13 more times from 3-point range against Indiana University (Pa.) in last Sunday’s exhibition contest. “I didn’t think we shot the ball very well inside or outside,” coach Coquese Washington said. “I’m not really happy with our shooting percentage. We shot 41 per cent and I think we should shoot better.” Though 3-point shooting was a difficulty for the team the last few seasons and in the team’s exhibition game, the Lady Lions expect improvement heading into this sea son. While shooting 41 percent overall against lUP may not have pleased Washington, it looked good in comparison to the team’s 13 percent 3-point average. With the team’s season opener against Drexel University on Friday, Grant said the Lions preparing for penalty kicks in tournament W ./V ** i Jimmy Dever/Coilegian Freshman Christine Nairn takes a shot at practice Tuesday. The Lions are working on penalty kicks for the NCAA tournament. Lady Lions aren’t worried about shooting only l-for-15 from behind the arc against lUP “You need to pick your poison,” said lUP coach Jeff Dow after playing Penn State. “I would just assume to give them some long jump shots as opposed to letting them pound it inside or take us off the dribble. Our feeling was that, ‘Hey, if they beat us with threes all night long, tip your hat.’ ” The 3-point shooting struggles the team experienced in the exhibition were nothing new for the Lady Lions as that area of the team’s game has been a weakness in recent history. For instance, the team shot 124-for-403 from long distance last year, and 125-for-412 the year before. However, Washington believes this sea son can be different for Penn State. “I think we’ve got some good shooters,” she said. “Zhaque [Gray] has come back, and she’s shooting the ball very well for us. iy is a very good 3-point shooter as well, and Gizelle [Studevent] is shooting the ball. She is a good outside shooter, and I think she’ll be able to shoot the 3-ball for us.” Grant agreed with her coach and added that she is not concerned about the shoot ing performance displayed during the exhi bition. By Andrew Robinson COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Tuesday night, with the field swamped in light, the Penn State women’s soccer team chided and joked about each player as they lined up for a penalty kick. While the prac tice atmosphere wasn’t serious, this weekend, the penalty kicks will count for more than bragging rights. They may decide an NCAA tour nament game. “It’s huge, especially because it’s something you can practice,” senior forward Katie Schoepfer said. “It’s something that a team can be really good at and it can win you championships, but it can also lose you championships. I’ve lost before on PKs and it’s terrible, so I think it’s important to practice them and take them and get as Behind-the-Head Ear Warmers fjti*: j i f 1 ; i **• *ti ;i ,/; J . r M #• fj : r ' ’/*) 1 l I* */I r * - i m '/ if; t? •< “We have a lot of good shooters on our WOMEN’S SOCCER r 1 r j -J . / _r j Fleece Gloves with Tec Touch Technology SPORTS Benedict A. Samuel/Collegian Guard Tyra Grant (right) lines up a shot in Penn State’s exhibition against Indiana (Pa.) team,” Grant said. “That’s not going to hap- She said that Julia Trogele, Marisa Wolfe pen veiy often.” and Renee Womack have all improved their However, last season’s statistics are not outside shots during the offseason and very promising for the Lady Lions. should all play a role this year. As a junior, Grant was the only player to Washington also added that the addition make more than 50 shots from long range, of freshman Nikki Greene in the post will After her, Gray is the only player returning help draw defenders and open up some who made more than 10 threes last year. shots from downtown. The rest of the returning players who will “I think we’ve got some options,” see time on the court combined for a grand Washington said. “And if we have it, we’ll total of five 3-pointers last season. take it ” Washington is still excited about the other possibilities the team has this year. good as you can with them.” During the regular season, tie games will have two 10-minute overtime periods, and if neither team scores in the extra sessions, the game is declared a tie. However, in the tournament, each game needs a winner so a penalty kick shootout is used after 110 minutes have passed. So far this season, the Nittany Lions have been involved with four penalty kicks, taking two and defending the others. Schoepfer scored on both her attempts, while opponents only converted one of their two shots on Alyssa Naeher. Senior midfielder Melissa Hayes said Schoepfer is the biggest threat to put a penalty kick in the net. Hayes said the for ward’s ability to strike the ball and put it anywhere in the net makes her dangerous, but all the players have taken a PK at some point in their career. “We just started taking penalty \ \ , l _, I _ n n r 1 r 1 / "-> /\" Mill'll JM | J r 1 r -1 Collegian reporters field PKs. Column online, video on the MAKE PLAYS blog: psucollegian.com kicks last week, so its pretty fresh at this point,” senior midfielder Alii Rago said. “We’ve all taken penalty kicks in our careers, and we’re all very confident. We’ve been shooting goal after goal in practice for about three or four weeks during first half of practice, so all of us are very confident to take one and make sure it goes in the back of the net.” Each player has her own pre kick routine and superstition. Freshman midfielder Christine Nairn said she knows exactly where she wants to put the ball before she kicks it and refuses to look at anything else except the ball before she fires. The common factor for any shooter, Schoepfer said, is confi- J ■ -•1 Fleece Scarf with Pocket j I pJ r“ r 1 Booties The Daily Collegian To e-mail reporter: adal47@psu.edu dence. Admittedly a free-shooter, Schoepfer said having confidence in her ability to put the ball away is what has allowed the senior to convert her attempts this sea son. When the Lions open the Tournament against Colgate at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, they will need confident shooters if the game comes down to a shootout. Schoepfer said any doubt in a shooter’s mind increases the chances that they will miss, and because she doesn’t aim too much on penalty kicks, the forward only thinks about the positive. “That’s everything about a penalty kick,” Hayes said. “You have to want to take it, and you have to want to win the game for your team and be in that pressure situation. I think that the people who thrive on that are the ones who step up and put it away.” To e-mail reporter: adrSo79@psu.edu INNOVATIVE PERFORMANCE WEAR
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