Blue White Illustrated

STEALING THE SHOW Scrappy defense has been one of the keys to the Lady Lions' recent surge COQUESE WASHINGTON lot of things have been falling into place for the Penn State women's basketball team lately, including a half-court shot that Alex Bentley heaved at the basket just before the halftime buzzer in the Lady Lions' matchup with Nebraska on Jan. 13 at the Bryce Jordan Center. "We were talking about finishing the first half strong, and that's all I was focusing on," the senior point guard said. "I got the ball and pushed it up and saw the shot clock and threw it." Bentley's high, arcing shot – she had stripped the ball from Nebraska guard Rachel Theriot moments earlier – fell through the net without so much as rattling the rim. The 3-pointer completed a 14-4 Lady Lion run to close the first half, and Penn State went on to rout the 23rd-ranked Cornhuskers, 80-58. Bentley's shot was the game's signature moment. "It wasn't a dagger," Nebraska coach Connie Yori said, "but it gave them a lot of momentum." The eighth-ranked Lady Lions have been building momentum all season. Heading into their game against Wisconsin on Jan. 17 at the BJC, they had won seven in a row, and their 14game home winning streak was the nation's sixth-longest and was the ninth-longest in school history. They were 13-2 overall and 3-0 in the Big Ten, and while the conference race is just starting to take shape, the Lady Lions, preseason favorites to repeat as champs, appear to be every bit as formidable as anticipated. The keys to their success? Offense, for one thing. Through 15 games, Penn State was leading the Big Ten in scoring at 74.7 points a game. Junior guard Maggie Lucas was the biggest single contributor to that figure, averaging 20.4 points to rank third in the league A "We want to dictate games on the defensive side. Offense can come and go. ... Defense can be a constant." Patrick Mansell and 17th nationally. Bentley was averaging 12 points and 3.9 assists, while center Nikki Greene was averaging 8.3 points and 7.8 rebounds. The offensive success has come as no surprise; the Lady Lions led the league in scoring last season, too. If there's a difference in the team's play this year, it's that Penn State is creating more problems for opponents on the defensive end. Heading into the Wisconsin game, the Lady Lions were allowing only 57.5 points a game, fourthbest in the conference. They were second in the league in both steals (11.8 per game) and field goal percentage defense (.342). "I am really happy with our defense," coach Coquese Washington said following the Nebraska game. "We have a lot of teams that have offensive firepower in our conference, and Nebraska is one of them. If we want to continue to be a team that is reckoned with, then it is going to come from the defensive end, not the offensive [end]. We just want to continue to get better. We want to dictate games on the defensive side. Offense can come and go. You can get shots, and sometimes they go in and sometimes they don't. But defense can be a constant. We want to be a great offensive team, obviously, but we don't want to be a team that just relies on outscoring people. We want to shut people down. That's key for us." In its Big Ten opener against Northwestern, Penn State had 19 steals, including seven by newcomer Dara Taylor. In her first season of action since transferring from Maryland, Taylor has helped make a very quick team even quicker. She moved into the starting lineup in December following a 69-65 loss to Miami and his been there ever since. Her 35 steals through 15 games were third on the team, behind only Bentley (60) and Lucas (38). With their guards spearheading the charge, the Lady Lions have exorcised some demons this season. They routed Michigan State on the road, 76-55, avenging two losses to the Spartans last season. And they romped past Nebraska, which stunned them at the BJC in last year's Big Ten opener. A number of key tests remain, including a trip to Ohio State on Jan. 27, and home dates against Purdue (Feb. 4) and Michigan State (Feb. 10). But with a little more than half of the regular season completed, the Lady Lions have shown they can do it all. That includes half-court shots. Bentley doesn't practice them herself. "Not at all," she said. "But Maggie Lucas does. I learn from her."

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