STATE COLLEGE — Penn State used the emotion of 8,471 fans and 285 breast cancer survivors in a home crowd Sunday to hold off a late Illinois charge for a 70-66 win in the Fourth Annual WBCA Pink Zone at Penn State at the Bryce Jordan Center.
The win is the sixth-straight for the Lady Lions (15-4, 7-2) and gives Penn State seven wins in Big Ten play, the highest win total since the 2006-07 squad was 7-9 in Big Ten action. The Lady Lions moved the ball well against the Illini (11-8, 3-6), tallying
19 assists on 23 baskets.
Freshman Alex Bentley had a career-high 19 points to go along with five rebounds, six assists, two blocks and two steals in the best all-around performance of her career. Senior Tyra Grant also reached double figures for Penn State with 15 tallies, a career-best nine assists, five rebounds and a steal, while freshman Nikki Greene narrowly missed a double-double with nine points and 11 rebounds, including six on offense.
The Lady Lions jumped out to a three-point lead (5-2) 11⁄2 minutes into the game and held that lead until a 7-0 run for Illinois put the Illini ahead 13-8 at the 13:37 mark. A pair of Greene free throws and a fast-break jumper by Bentley pulled the Lions within a single point at 13-12 with 12 minutes remaining. Following a pair of Karisma Penn free throws, the Lady Lions assumed the lead with a layup by Greene and two freebies by Julia Trogele to make it 16-15 with 9:33 on the clock.
The Illini moved back in front with a
3-pointer by Jenna Smith, but the Lady Lions immediately responded with an 8-2 run to assume a 24-20 lead with 4:44 left.
Illinois scored the game’s next three points, but Marisa Wolfe responded with her first career 3-pointer on her first career 3-point attempt to give the Lady Lions a
27-23 cushion with 3 minutes remaining. The Illini tallied four of the final five points of the half to send the teams into the locker room with Penn State leading 28-27.
A layup by Greene and two free throws by Meredith Monroe gave Penn State a 32-27 lead less than a minute into the second half.
Illinois scored three consecutive points to slice the Penn State lead to two (32-30) before the Lady Lions bounced back with a fast-break layup by Trogele to spark a 13-2 run. Wolfe drained her second three-pointer of the game, while Wolff, Trogele and Grant added the next six points to make it a 45-32 game with 13:20 remaining.
After Illinois cut Penn State’s lead to seven points, Bentley drained a three-pointer as the shot clock expired and converted on a layup off of a Grant steal to push the lead back to 12 points (65-53) with 3 minutes left. The Illini made one last charge with a 13-5 run to finish the game, but the Lady Lions held on for the win.
