Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/121281
WOM EN���S BASKETBALL COMINGSsenior class, PSUGOINGSa bright future AND looks ahead to Even as it bids farewell to its stellar | hen she looked at the bracket sheet and saw two unexpected participants headed to the women���s Final Four ��� Cal was a minor surprise, Louisville a major surprise ��� Penn State coach Coquese Washington couldn���t help but think that it portended good things, both for a sport in which power has typically been concentrated in the hands of a few elite programs, and for her own team. ���It makes for good basketball,��� Washington said. ���It makes for exciting basketball, and it certainly gives us confidence that we can get back at it this spring, this summer, this fall, and that next year we can be a really competitive team and a team that advances in the NCAA tournament. ���There is so much parity, and there are good players who maybe people don���t know about,��� she added. ���You get in the NCAA tournament and there are good teams and great players out there. And we feel like we have our fair share here at Penn State.��� The latter point is inarguable given that the Lady Lions went 26-6 and 142 in the Big Ten this past season. But they are between eras at the moment. Five seniors are departing, including three of the team���s top four scorers from this past season. At the same time, a seven-member freshman class featuring four players from the 2013 HoopGurlz top 100 is getting set to enroll. Given the impending roster upheaval, the results of this year���s tournament have to be considered mixed at best. Penn State will definitely benefit next season if the loses by Stanford (61-59 to Georgia in the Spokane Regional semifinals) and Baylor (82-81 to Louisville in the Oklahoma City Regional semis) are indicative of a shrinking W HARD ROAD Lucas and her PSU teammates struggled in a season-ending loss at LSU. Mark Selders/Penn State Athletic Communications gap between the elite teams and the rest of Division I. But this past season, the Lady Lions were supposed to be one of those elite teams. They were the Big Ten���s regular-season champions and were seeded third in the Spokane Regional. They looked strong in routing Cal Poly, 85-55, in the tournament���s first round, but everything unraveled in the second round, and they were upset by sixth-seeded LSU, 71-66, in Baton Rouge, La.