Blue White Illustrated

It was the team's first Rec Hall sellout, with a screaming crowd of 7,264 on hand to see Penn State defend its 17-game winning streak and No. 1 ranking. Those fans could not believe it when the women blew a 37-26 halftime lead and found themselves trailing, 61-57, with three minutes remaining. But those final three minutes may have been the finest ever played by a Lady Lions team. Tina Nicholson scored on a layup with 2 minutes, 11 seconds remaining, and Katina Mack tied the score with a free throw at 1:19. Then, with 20.6 seconds left, Jackie Donovan put the Lady Lions ahead with two foul shots. After a timeout, Nicholson swatted the ball from a Hawkeyes player. Mack grabbed it and was fouled, but she missed her first shot. Iowa seized the rebound and took a timeout with 6.9 seconds left. The inbounds pass went to freshman Erinn Reed, who had hardly played. Reed drove the baseline almost alone, but her layup bounced off the rim into center Missy Masley's hands and the game was all but over. ICING THE GAME Before women's basketball caught on with Penn State fans, Pitt, West Virginia and Syracuse were the chief nemeses of the men's team, and they played several memorable games over the decades. In addition to the 1966 upset on Persson's buzzer beater, Egli's team also stunned No. 7 Syracuse the previous season, 8159, on Dec. 5, 1964, in a game that was played in Rec Hall's 2,500-seat south gymnasium because the main gym was being renovated. That team finished 204 and put Penn State into the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 10 years, while the '65-66 team made the school's first appearance in the NIT. West Virginia was a perennial Top 20 team from the late 1940s to the early '60s featuring such standout players as Fred Schaus, Mark Workman, Jerry West and Hot Rod Hundley, but Penn State pulled off several memorable upsets home and away during that time. The first big one was in 1947 when a team that would finish 9-10 edged the No. 5 Mountaineers, 5046, at Rec Hall. However, Pitt was always the rival Penn State wanted to beat most, and the two teams played twice each season from 1913 through 1981, with many exciting and competitive games. There were a few unusual games that stood out above the rest, and in an era before the shot clock and anti-stalling rules, they became famously known as the "freeze" games. It all started on Feb. 20, 1943, in Rec Hall. Pitt's legendary coach, Dr. H.C. "Doc" Carlson tried to stymie Lion coach John Lawther's traditional and effective sliding zone offense in the first two quarters by having his team pass the ball around, sometimes holding it for long periods and rarely shooting. By halftime, Penn State had only five points and Pitt two. Carlson ended the stalling after the intermission and the Lions won, 32-13. Egli was a starting guard on that team and scored five points. The next time the teams met, in Pitts- burgh on Jan. 14, 1944, Egli was in the army when Carlson added another gimmick against the heavily favored Lions, and this one gained nationwide attention. This time, the Pitt players simply held the ball without moving for most of the game. The Lions never trailed and eventually won, 15-12, before 750 spectators. "Penn State Out-Freezes Pitt, 15-12," blared the headline across the first sports page of the Pittsburgh Press. "Spectators Yawn While Play Lags." When Pitt traveled to Penn State 36 days later, some 6,000 fans showed up expecting to see another "freeze," but as the Pittsburgh Press reported in the lead sentence of its account of the Lions' 35-29 win, "The Penn State 'side show' failed to materialize tonight." Just about every time the two teams played again until Carlson retired in 1953, SEE REC HALL PAGE 60

• Cover