Blue White Illustrated

son and Wolfe were settling into their first season as co-captains, roles they would continue for the rest of their careers. Bentley handed out 174 assists in her second campaign and began her three-year run as a first-team All-Big Ten honoree. She was a scorer (14.4 points per game) as well as a ball handler and adjusted her game to accommodate the arrival of highly regarded freshman Maggie Lucas. That adjustment wasn���t as effortless as it looked. In a Big Ten Network interview, Bentley admitted that they clashed initially. ���I was Maggie���s [recruiting] host, and I wasn���t a very good host,��� she said. Lucas also had some difficulty. ���I was actually intimidated by Alex,��� she said. ���She made me nervous.��� They patched things up, and Penn State enjoyed even more success the following season, reaching the Sweet 16. Greene led the team in rebounding and had 176 blocks while scoring more than 300 points. Nickson, bouncing back from concussion symptoms that sidelined her for two regular-season games, was named to the All-Region team at the NCAA tournament. ���The whole idea was to get this program back into the NCAAs,��� she said. ���The foundation was here before we stepped on campus. We wanted to get it back to that glory.��� Bentley was a candidate for the Wade Trophy, Wooden Award and the Naismith Trophy and moved her career scoring total over 1,000 points. She led the Big Ten in steals and was nationally honored for her defensive skills. Studevent played in 31 games her junior year and began making plans for an off-the-court initiative. In her final season, Studevent decided to talk publicly about her experience being bullied during her high school career in California. She brought other athletes into a project aimed at curbing bullying in schools. It is her dream to expand that idea both locally and nationally after she graduates. Wolfe���s senior season was curtailed by problems with concussion effects, but she has continued to be a leader in the locker room and from the bench. She���s planning to attend graduate school specializing in speech therapy. Greene, Bentley and Nickson all are still in the starting lineup, spearheading Penn State���s push for a long postseason run. Are the Lady Lions capable of becoming the first Big Ten team to reach the Final Four since Michigan State in 2005? Nebraska coach Connie Yori thinks so. ���Penn State has a legitimate shot,��� she said. ���It���s a program with a lot of the pieces in place.��� Whatever the future holds, the seniors have already compiled a long list of statistical accomplishments. They have been the driving force in more than 90 of Washington���s career victories. Greene has more than 1,000 points and 200 blocks and is close to 1,000 rebounds. Bentley leads the Big Ten and ranks in the top five nationally in steals. She���s totaled more than 1,700 points and 550 assists. Nickson has more than 800 career points and 500 rebounds (including her one season at Boston College). If Penn State were to advance to the Final Four for the second time in the program���s history, players know they can count on one of their assistant coaches to fill them in on what to expect. Maren Walseth was a member of the 2000 team that played Connecticut in the semifinals in Philadelphia. ���When we were out and about, whether as a team or with our parents, it was so cool to see ���Penn State��� written on everything,��� she said. ���Every sign, every banner, every T-shirt ��� everything! I think that���s when it hit me that this was real. So few people get to experience those moments and have the memories. I am so thankful to be one of the fortunate ones.��� Lady Lions fall in Big Ten semifinals Everything was going splendidly for Penn State at first. The Lady Lions had dispatched red-hot Ohio State, 76-66, in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament on March 8, and their high-octane offense was still humming along at the start of the semifinal matchup against Michigan State the following day. But after sprinting to a 16-5 lead over the Spartans, a team they had defeated by double-digits twice in the regular season, the top-seeded, eighth-ranked Lady Lions went stone cold. They didn���t hit a field goal in the last 12 minutes, 47 seconds of the first half, and things didn���t improve much after the break. The result was a 54-46 loss that ended their hope of claiming the program���s first league tournament title since 1996. ���It might have been the worst shooting game we���ve had all season,��� coach Coquese Washington said afterward. That was an understatement. Before facing the Spartans, Penn State hadn���t shot below 25 percent as a team since a game against Alabama in December 1996. They made only 15 of 67 attempts (22.4 percent) against Michigan State, and seven of their makes were by one player: Maggie Lucas. Named the Big Ten Player of the Year a few days before the tournament, Lucas hit 7 of 13 3-point attempts and finished with 23 points. Penn State now turns its attention to the NCAA tournament, the brackets for which were announced March 18. ���I���m confident we���ll go into the NCAA tournament and we���ll play better offensively,��� Washington said. ���I���m confident we���ll go into the NCAA tournament and we���ll play better defensively. You have nights when you just play poorly. It is what it is. It was a night that we played poorly. We shot the ball poorly. We got outrebounded. And we didn���t have good flow on offense. That���s not who we���ve been all season, so I don���t think that���s who we���ll be in the NCAA tournament.��� ��� MATT HERB

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