I Monday, Dec. 6, 2010
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From Page 8.
tallied six of the next seven points
to tie it at 16. Trailing 18-17, setter
Kristin Carpenter served the Lions
to four straight points, as part of
what would become a 15-7 run to
come back and take a two-set lead.
Penn State and Virginia Tech
were knotted up at 10 in the third
set, but the Lions pulled away and
won the final set handily, 25-13.
Riley, who on Friday night
described the potential matchup
with Penn State (28-5) as a “David
vs. Goliath match,” wasn’t at all sur
prised David stuck with Goliath
Saturday night.
“I think our strength and our
speed was difficult for them to han
dle as big [as they are] and as well
as they move,” Riley said after the
match.
Big Ten
there in the years ahead.” cil, Curley said more expansion
Earlier this season, Joe Patemo won’t occur any time soon —or even
said he’d like the league to expand be discussed by the heads of the
east - league’s universities.
sta l e ™ ent Before Nebraska, the Nittany “We deliberated and had a very
following detailed discussions at Lions were the conference’s most thorough review, and with that
[Sunday s] meeting, my colleagues recent addition after entering the everyone decided to be content with
and I can report that we believe that league in 1993. Nebraska,” Curley said,
this process has reached its natural In the past, Patemo has been one “Conference expansion is on the
conclusion. We are pleased with the of the most vocal supporters of fur- backbumer.”
addition of Nebraska and look for- ther expansion,
ward to working with our colleagues But after meeting with the coun-
From Page 8.
ftp n nil ting it on the floor and getting to the suit for us so we were really reluc-
basket.” tant, but we were forced to do it and
From Page 8. Battle stepped up and led the way it worked pretty well,” DeChellis
with 31 points while senior Jeff said.
I thought one of the big keys in the Brooks picked up his game for 17 “Tre Bowman did a very nice job.
[Saturday] was Coach points. I thought Jermaine [Marshall] did a
DeChellis went to a three guard However, it was the solid play of veiy nice job in the first half Cam
lineup about five or six mmutes the bench that made the difference [Woodyard] came in and made some
into the second half, Duquesne with Jackson and Oliver out with big free throws for us and knocked
coach Ron Everhart said after the injuries as DeChellis made the deci- them down. And I thought
s * on iree guairds, a strat- had a solid performance off the
That got us out of our press a lit- egy he has shied away from so far bench.”
tie bit. We couldn’t really trap those this season.
guys because they were so good put- “Our bench has not been a strong To e-mail reporter: adal47@psu.edu
Blocking
From Page 8.
(20-12) led by five points at 15-10.
The Hokies limited Penn State’s
offense to .160 hitting in that set.
However, the Lions’ blocking held
Virginia Tech in check, allowing
them to fight back to win the set and
take control of the match. The Lions
registered 9.0 of their 15.0 blocks
during the come-from-behind win in
the second set.
But, it was the two blocks near the
end of the set by Brown that really
elated the crowd.
“I think it’s difficult for anyone to
handle.”
Penn State senior opposite hitter
Blair Brown said her team knew
they couldn’t take Virginia Tech (20-
12) for granted, as they can’t over
look any team in the NCAA tourna
ment.
“You can’t think any team is not
going to be a great team when
you’re going in,” said Brown, who
led all players with 11 kills, including
two in a row to dose the match.
“I think they had a great team
coming in. They had a lot of energy
and their fans helped them out a lot.
They’re very well coached and you
can tell. They run a quick offense.”
In the end, Penn State’s big block
made a big difference in the match.
The Lions outblocked the Hokies,
15-4, and outhit them, .321-.157.
Brown said the Lions still need to
improve for Friday’s Sweet 16
matchup against Oklahoma (23-10).
“I think any play you make is an Though they found success at times,
energy changer on the court, and the Hokies were held to a. 157 hitting
that’s one of them,” Brown said. “If I percentage,
can help bring the energy up, that’s Hokies’ coach Chris Riley
what I’m going to do.” believed his team did a good job of
Brown led the Lions with six slowing down Penn State’s offensive
blocks, while senior Fatima Balza attack, but he said the Lions’ block
and freshman Ariel Scott each had ers troubled his team.
five. Balza’s blocks came in just one
and a half sets, after she was insert
ed into the lineup midway through
the match.
Virginia Tech senior Felicia
Willoughby said the Hokies tried to
move the ball around to different hit
ters, but she said they struggled to
hit around the Lion blockers.
SPORTS
“They’re very well
coached and you can
teU.”
If they win, the fourth-seeded
Lions who are one of six Big Ten
teams remaining in the tournament
would face either 12th-seeded
Duke or Missouri on Saturday night
at Rec Hall for a trip to the Final
Four.
“I think every single game in the
tournament, you have to get better,
you have to progress,” Brown said.
“This whole year for us has been
about progression and we just need
to continue doing that throughout
the tournament.”
To e-maii reporter: Jyksl42@psu.edu
To e-mail reporter: ajcs23B@psu.edu
“They were physical and had a
humongous block,” Riley said.
“Against a team with 6-foot-6 and 6-
foot-5 [players] blocking you, you’ve
got to be able to move them around,
and we struggled to do that at times
tonight.”
To e-mail reporter: rmlsl3B@psu.edu
Fast start
From Page 8.
games in a good rhythm has
been a bit of an issue, trailing
at halftime in six of their ninp
games, but Sunday’s success
was a reassuring sign.
Blair Brown
“It felt really good, we
haven’t done it all year so this
game we finally stopped com
ing out slow,” sophomore
point guard Alex Bentley said.
The Lady Lions led 38-31 at
halftime behind 14 of
Nickson’s 26 points, but could
n’t replicate their first-half
surge to start the second
frame.
Normally, the Lady Lions
have used the beginning of
the second half to mount a
run, but against Texas Tech,
the players’ tired legs started
to catch up to them.
Since Thanksgiving, Penn
State has played five games,
including three on three con
secutive days and the signs
showed.
The team had turnovers on
its first two second-half pos
sessions, which prompted
coach Coquese Washington to
take a timeout with 17:48 left
in the period.
“Some of that was Alex, I
was in Alex’s ear a lot
[Sunday] because I know she
was a little fatigued,”
Washington said.
“When Alex gets tired then
she doesn’t lead the team as
well and so I wanted to make
sure I stayed in her head
about what we wanted to do
offensively and defensively.”
Washington said Bentley
wasn’t as crisp and focused as
she is when she’s rested and
The Daily Collegian
when the guard’s play drops,
so does the rest of the team’s.
After Texas Tech scored a
couple of quick baskets, the
timeout was just meant to jolt
the Lady Lions back into
focus and restore a sense of
urgency.
Penn State showed a good
deal of zone defense, both
because Washington said her
team struggled guarding
Tech’s ball screens and sever
al of Penn State’s post players
were saddled with foul trou
ble.
Despite 21 turnovers from
Penn State, Texas Tech for
ward Jordan Bamcastle felt
her team wasn’t able to capi
talize on its many opportuni
ties.
“I think we could have done
a lot of things better,”
Bamcastle said.
“Too many defensive
breakdowns, too many offen
sive rebounds given away, not
making enough shots, it’s lit
tle things but it just comes
down to mistakes.”
But on the other side, the
game provided a test for Penn
State, and with all the factors
involved, it showed Bentley
the character of her team
mates.
“Anytime our team hits
adversity, we tend to just play
at a higher level,” Bentley
said.
“Our fight and our heart
are really, really strong and I
don’t think anybody was wor
rying when we were having
those turnovers or getting
down because we knew we
were going to be alright.”
To e-mail reporter:
adrso79@psu.edu