Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/233832
not just Eastern teams that have been forced to play catch-up; greets Auriemma prior to Coneverybody wants to necticut's game against Penn be Connecticut, and State on Nov. 17. It was the every coach wants to be in Auriemma's Huskies' first visit to University shoes, able to go into Park since 1983. any high school in the country and convince the best of the best to come to their school. Eight national championships have a way of getting kids' attention. The question for the Lady Lions going forward – as for all the schools in that next tier of ambitious strivers – is whether there's a way to narrow the gap that separates them from the sport's elite powers. During its recently concluded nonconference season, Penn State hosted two topfive opponents in Connecticut and Notre Dame, as well as 24th-ranked Texas A&M. It lost to the Huskies and Irish by double digits, but it seems unfair to use those contests as a measuring stick. Penn State, after all, is playing the long game. It has seven freshmen on its roster, and coach Coquese Washington knew when she put together this season's ambitious nonconference schedule that the payoff might not come for weeks or months. As she said following the Lady Lions' 77-67 loss to Notre Dame on Dec. 4, "We are going to be a team that is probably going to find its rhythm sometime in January or February. We just have so many young pieces, so many inexperienced pieces, so many people who are in new and different roles. " With only two returning starters in its lineup, Penn State has indeed experienced some growing pains, including an 83-79 upset loss Dec. 11 at South Dakota State. But the team won six of its first nine nonconference games and even had some sparkling moments in its losses to elite opponents. The Lady Lions are already getting significant contributions from several members of their freshman class, which was rated 14th nationally by ESPN/HoopGurlz. Recruiting will be the key if the Lady Lions are to narrow the gap between themselves and the sport's elite programs. They have a program-best three McDonald's SHAKE ON IT Washington Mark Selders/Penn State Athletic Communications