Blue White Illustrated

Teniya Page is close to becoming only the sixth player in Penn State women's basketball history to sur- pass 2,000 career points. Page passed Suzie McConnell, mov- ing into seventh place on the Lady Lions' career scoring chart after a 23- point effort in a 74-61 loss to Rutgers on Jan. 6. It was her fourth consecu- tive game with 20 or more points and her ninth of the season. After scoring 13 in a win at Illinois six days later, the senior guard had 1,914 points in her career. Heading into Penn State's home matchup with Ohio State on Jan. 17, Page was closing in on Tanisha Wright, who amassed 1,995 points from 2001-05. The Lady Lions' all-time leading scorer is Kelly Mazzante with 2,919 points, followed by Maggie Lucas (2,510), Susan Robinson (2,253), Tyra Grant (2,044) and Kahadeejah Her- bert (2,026). Page is in the midst of a strong sen- ior campaign, ranking second in the Big Ten in scoring with a 20.3-point average as of mid-January and first in minutes played at 36.8 per game. But as a team, the Lady Lions have struggled in the early part of the conference season. They were 2-3 heading into the matchup against the Buckeyes, with their wins coming against Wisconsin (71-64) and the Ilini (62-48). Through 16 games, the Lady Lions were ninth in the conference in scor- ing offense at 69.6 points per game and 12th in scoring defense at 69.0 points. –MATT HERB do it a different way next time. But he's a great kid." Only Dread himself knows what weight that apology carried, and in many ways, only Dread himself is in a position to accept it or take further issue with the situation. But given the nature of the Nittany Lions' season – a disappointing 7-9 record through early January including an 0-5 start to the Big Ten slate – it's worthwhile to note the context in which the incident occurred. For all the inten- sity that Chambers has brought to the job, his demeanor throughout the 2018- 19 season has actually been a departure from the norm. This has been, without question, the calmest, most measured and relaxed that Chambers has seemed since his ar- rival in 2011. And he's had every reason to not be. Beginning with a 72-70 overtime loss at DePaul, a game in which true freshman Rasir Bolton went 0 of 10 from the floor, this season has brought a parade of frus- trations. That first loss of the year was soon followed by a 59-56 loss to Bradley. Then, after a home victory over Virginia Tech, came a 66-59 loss at Maryland in which the Terrapins attempted 25 free throws to Penn State's six. In their next outing, a 64-62 home loss to Indiana, the Nittany Lions went 11 of 26 from the free throw line. And in an 89-78 loss to North Carolina State, star forward Lamar Stevens played only 22 minutes due to a series of debatable fouls. At that point, it would have been only natural to assume that Chambers was a ticking time bomb of pent-up frustra- tions, but his response to questions about the team's progress contradicted such a notion. "Where we can get better? What pos- sessions can we win of the ones we're losing right now? We go through these dry spells for four or five minutes, and they actually end up hurting us. They're costing us games. And we're playing well enough to win games," Chambers said in mid-December. "If you would have asked me if I would be 5-5 right now, I would say no way. We were play- ing so well at the beginning of the season and now our shots aren't falling, our layups aren't falling, free throws aren't falling. I think the one thing we can al- ways rely on is our defense. So there's a lot to learn from. We've got to keep growing." Chambers' restraint caught me off- guard given the circumstances, so I asked him where his more-relaxed tone was coming from. Noting that there were still a lot of games ahead, he said he was encouraged by the potential of his freshman-laden team. "We're close," he said. "You see it for spurts. 'Holy cow, this team could be re- ally good.' Right? We see it. But we're also close to going the other way, too. I want to keep this team very confident. I want to keep teaching them. I want them to keep having an open mindset of learning and growing. "And they've got to be selfless. They've got to give of themselves. … They are trying to buy in. Whether they know what buy-in means or not, they're still pushing that envelope a little bit." Viewed in that light, Chambers' lapse in judgment at the Crisler Center begins to make sense. He was in the wrong, and he has acknowledged it. He apologized to Dread and his family, and he served the one-game suspension that Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour imposed, sitting out the Nittany Lions' 71-52 loss to Wisconsin on Jan. 6. But context is important when judging Chambers' actions. He's been more measured and under control this season than at any point in his tenure, and his brief loss of composure should be viewed with that in mind. ■ W O M E N ' S B A S K E T B A L L Lady Lions' Page approaching 2,000-point plateau

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