Jan. 28, 2007
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA — Five Penn State players in scored double figures en route to a 78-71 victory over Iowa Sunday in front of 5,757 fans at the Bryce Jordan Center. The win is the Lady Lions’ sixth straight over the Hawkeyes.
Iowa took command of the game early on the shoulders of sophomores Megan Skouby and Wendy Ausdemore. The duo scored 16 of Iowa’s first 20 points.
The Hawkeyes built a 15-point advantage (34-19) with 6:01 left in the first half. However, Iowa’s double digit lead quickly evaporated by halftime as the Hawkeyes missed their last seven field goal attempts of the half and Penn State took advantage of Iowa’s scoring drought, closing the half on a 17-0 run and taking a slim two-point advantage (36-34) into the half.
“Penn State had a lot of momentum going into halftime with the 17-0 run,” said Iowa Head Caoch Lisa Bluder.
A Kristi Smith 3-pointer at the 13:27 mark of the second half gave the Hawkeyes its only lead of the second half (50-49). The Lady Lions responded by going on a 22-9 run to give them their largest lead of the game 71-59 with 4:42 left. Iowa trimmed the deficit to five in the closing seconds, but would get no closer.
“We played well for the first ten minutes and then our shots didn’t fall and our defense let up,” said Bluder. “We go as our offense goes. If we don’t score our defense has big lapses.”
Junior Kam Gissendanner scored a team-high 18 points to lead the Lady Lions to their ninth home win of the year. Senior Amanda Brown posted her ninth double-double of the sedason, collecting 14 points and 12 rebounds. Brianne O’Rourke tallied 15 points, Tyra Grant contributed 12 and Rashida Mark added 11 for the home squad.
Iowa junior Krista VandeVenter netted a game-high 20 points on 6-12 shooting from the field and 8-9 from the foul line. The native of Osseo, MN, also grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds, to register her first double-double of the season and seventh of her career.
“It was nice to see Krista VandeVenter get back on track today,” said Bluder.
Skouby scored 19 points, while Ausdemore and Smith each netted 12. All 12 of Ausdemore’s points came in the first ten minutes of the contest when she was 4-5 from 3-point range; she missed her last seven shot attempts from the field.
Iowa out-rebounded Penn State by eight (40-32) and pulled down a season-high 19 rebounds in defeat. In addition to VandeVenter’s 13 boards, junior Jenee Graham corralled 11, marking the 11th time this season she has had double-digit rebounds.
“I was pleased with how we crashed the boards today,” said Bluder. “We out-rebounded them by eight as a team and we had 19 offensive rebounds that led to 18 second chance points.”
Iowa will receive its final “bye” Thursday before hitting the road again at nationally-ranked Ohio State Sunday. Tip-off is slated for 1:05 p.m. (CST) at Value City Arena.