The Daily Collegian
Defense the focus for Lady Lions against Army
Daniel Bott/Collegian
Maggie Lucas (33) holds the ball away from a defender during the Lady
Lions win over Gannon on Nov. 7 at the Bryce Jorda Center.
Sophomore Ortega making adjustments, helping team
By Brandt Gelman
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Throughout his tenure on the
Penn State wrestling team, red
shirt sophomore
Justin Ortega has
been the defini
tion of a team
WRESTLING
player.
After wrestling at the 174-
pound weight class for the majori
ty of last season. Ortega beefed up
to wrestle at 197 pounds this year
a daunting task that has led to a
1-1 start to his season.
Despite defeating his team
mate, true freshman Nick
Ruggear, in the early season
intrasquad match, and again in
the Nittanv Lion Open this past
Sunday, the two wrestlers have
been splitting time as coach Cael
Sanderson is still undecided on
who will be the permanent starter.
"That's a tough weight class to
decide who the starter is going to
be." Sanderson said.
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“Ortega has now beat him
three or four times this year, and
he has done a great job for the
team.”
If Ortega is given the starting
role at 197 pounds, his time in that
role may be short lived. At the
Open, junior All-American
Quentin Wright injured his left
shoulder.
Although X-rays came back
negative, Sanderson said Wright
may be out for matches until mid-
February.
“It’s just one of those injuries
that takes time to heal,”
Sanderson said.
The trouble with Wright’s
injury is the Nittany Lions don’t
have a viable replacement at the
184-pound weight class. For this
Sunday’s dual meet against Lock
Haven, Sanderson said redshirt
freshman Andrew Church would
be the most likely candidate to
step in for Wright.
Church currently wrestles at
174 pounds, but Sanderson is con
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SPORT'
By Andrew Robinson
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Unlike the last two opponents
Coquese Washington has had to
plan for, Army does some things
quite differently.
• Despite the
Black Knights WOMEN'S
favoring to play as BASKETBALL
many as four
guards on the
floor compared to the tall, athletic
lineups of Boston College and
Texas Tech, there is one constant
the Lady Lions coach has been
harping on defense.
And it’s going to stay that way
all year.
“[l’m looking for| improved
defense,” Washington said at her
weekly press conference Tuesday.
“I feel like I say that eveiy week,
but specific to our man-to-man
defense. I’d like to see us get a lit
tie better with our basic funda
mentals in man-to-man defense
and to just be able to get after it."
The Lady Lions take on,the 3-5
Black Knights at 6:30 toriight at
the Bryce Jordan Center in the
second of a seven-game home
stand Sunday afternoon against
Texas Tech, the Lady Lions stall
ed in man defense, but had trouble
navigating through the Lady
fident in Church's ability to step in
and perform well.
From a big picture standpoint,
the Nittany Lions may call on
Ortega yet again to take one for
the team and drop down to 184
pounds.
Ortega will not be available to
wrestle this weekend at 184
pounds because NCAA rules pro
vent him to shed that amount of
weight by Sunday.
Ortega is confident he will be
able to lose the weight to help the
team as Wright recovers.
“I’m already weighing in light
anyway,” Ortega said. "The coach
es are probably doing the calcula
tions now, but they will keep me
informed."
Ortega acknowledged how
important Wright is to the team,
saying Wright is an essential part,
of the team's national champi
onship hopes. Ortega added the
team believes it still can reach
those goals without Wright in the
lineup.
If you go
Lady Lions vs. Army
6:30 tonight
Bryce Jordan Center
Raiders’ ball screens and
switched to a zone defense for
parts of the first half. Before com
ing to Penn State, Washington was
an assistant coach at Notre Dame,
which is known for its use of a vari
ety of zone defenses.
But with a young team, and a
some size to her advantage,
Washington said she doesn’t want
her team to be a “jack-of-all
trades." and instead master a few
key defensive alignments. While
she wants the team to keep
improving on defense, Washington
also noted she has already seen
improvement from game to game,
and she simply wants to see it con
tinue. Army's four-guard lineup
presents a challenge to the Lady
Lions' man-to-man defense with
its motion off the ball, and
Washington said her team will see
similar styles in upcoming games
with Drexel and lowa.
"The biggest challenge is when
they pull our posts away from the
basket and thev have to defend out
Justin Ortega (right) wrestles with teammate Nick Ruggear at wes
offs earlier this year. Ortega has continued to be a team player.
To achieve those goals, the ”1 take my hat oil for hin
team will have to remain positive. Sanderson said. "He i> ciclimteh
Sanderson said Ortega is some- team player
one whose mentality goes a long
way for the program
Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2010 I 9
there,” Washington said.
“[Army's] a team that shoots a lot
of 3s and their percent may not be
that high right now, but that's
because I think a lot or people play
them man-to-man because they
don’t want to sit in a zone and let
them get into a rhythm."
The biggest challenge for the
Lady Lions will be keeping their
post players on the floor and tak
ing a‘Vantage of their size.
Washington said the problem is
when the posts have to drift out on
defense because they tend to get
into foul trouble, something that
has plagued the Lady Lions this
season. For the players, the
biggest hurdle has been gelling
used to the rotations on defense
Freshman guard Maggie Lucas
said both the zone and man to
man defenses each have their own
rotations and the hardest thing for
her is to make sure she's always
moving and not watching passes.
"I've played zone with my A U'
teams and we had a tew high
school but yeah, it's jus! the rota
tions," Lucas said. "You've got to
move on the pass, you can't just
watch, you have to be moving the
whole time, there's no time to take
breaks.'
To e-mail reporter: adrso79@psu.etiu
To e-mail reporter: bmgso94@psu.eriu