Late Run Propels Penn State Past Iowa

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Dec. 30, 2010

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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The 13th-ranked Iowa women’s basketball team led 55-48 with 6:33 to play, but Penn State outscored the Hawkeyes 20-4 to close out the game to pick up a 68-59 victory in both teams’ Big Ten opener.

“We did a nice job for 35 minutes, but were completely outplayed the last five minutes,” said UI head coach Lisa Bluder. “That’s disappointing because it is the first time that has really happened to us this year.

“I want to give Penn State credit; they did a great job crashing the offensive boards, forcing us into turnovers and they really changed the way we wanted to play. They did a great job and got the victory.”

After playing to a 34 all tie in the first half, Iowa pushed out to a 44-40 lead at the 15:31 mark on a long ball by Kamille Wahlin. The Nittany Lions, however, battled back to even the tally at 46 all with 11:05 remaining.

Following a two-minute scoring drought by both squads, Iowa appeared to take control, using a 9-2 run to take a 55-48 advantage. Jaime Printy opened the spurt with a three-pointer before PSU’s Nikki Greene made 1-of-2 free throws to make the score 49-47.

Kelly Krei followed with a pair of three pointers with a Mia Nickson free throw wedged in between, stretching the Hawkeyes’ lead to seven with 6:33 to play. From there, however, it was all Penn State.

The Nittany Lions followed with five quick points to trim the margin to a field goal at 55-53. After a Wahlin free throw made the score 56-53, Penn State scored seven unanswered points to grab the 60-56 advantage.

Wahlin pulled Iowa to within two (60-58) with a pair of free throws with 2:39 to play, but Penn State scored eight of the final nine points to run out nine point winners.

“They hit those quick shots in a row,” said Bluder. “It looked like our team got defeated at that point. That was discouraging to me. We call the timeout, there’s three and a half minutes left, we’re only down two — there’s plenty of time.”

Iowa struggled over the final 6:33 when the Nittany Lions went on their 20-4 run. The Hawkeyes went 0-8 from the floor, 4-of-6 from the charity stripe and committed four turnovers.

Penn State opened the contest by doubling up Iowa (14-7) over the first eight plus minutes. From there, the Hawkeyes scored 10 unanswered points behind three-pointers by Printy and Wahlin to grab a 17-16 advantage.

The Nittany Lions responded with an 8-0 spurt of their own to grab a 29-24 lead, but the Hawkeyes closed out the half by scoring 10-of-15 points to even the tally at 34 heading into the break.

The Hawkeyes shot 36 percent (22-61) from the floor and 34.5 percent (10-29) from long range in the loss, while Penn State finished with a 40 percent (26-65) field goal percentage and a 33 percent (6-18) mark from long range.

Printy led a group of three Iowa players in double figures, netting 17 points on 6-of-14 shooting. Iowa’s starters, meanwhile, accounted for 57 of the team’s 59 points.

The Hawkeyes (12-2, 0-1) will look to rebound on Sunday afternoon when they meet Michigan at 1 p.m. at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.