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<9QKAFFH=FFKL9L= Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Lion Country Lodging.com PENN STATE Parent Discount Plan lioncountrylodging.com Get 15% OFF each time you visit your student Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Get 15% OFF each time you visit your student Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Get 15% OFF each time you visit your student Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Get 15% OFF each time you visit your student Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê L L i io n C Get 15% OFF each time you visit your student Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Get 15% OFF each time you visit your student Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê L Li io n C Co u un tr try ry L o d dg gi in P PE EN N S TA TA TE TE Pa Pa re en n t D i is c o un n t P PE EN NN N S T Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê n g g. c co m Pl Pl la n Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Illinois. Iowa was one of three Big Ten teams to defeat Penn State this year, edging the Lady Lions at the Bryce Jor- dan Center, 73-70. Penn State defeated Purdue in West Lafayette, 75-72, but the Boilermakers are always at tough matchup at the league tourney simply because they bring the Big Ten's largest rooting section. This year, the Boilers should enjoy a home-game atmosphere with the event returning to Indianapo- lis. Penn State has gotten through the quarterfinals each of the past three sea- sons, but the semis have been a danger zone. That's where the Lady Lions have fallen the past two years; in addition to last year's loss to Michigan State, they fell to Purdue, 68-66, in the 2012 tour- nament. "We've got to be better in that semifinal game," Washington said. "I think the semifinal game might be harder to play in than the championship game, because that's the more pressure-filled game. You want to get to the final, you want to play in the final game. We've gotta figure it out between now and this weekend and see how we can be better in potentially all three games." One piece of good news for the Lady Lions is that two-time Big Ten Player of the Year Maggie Lucas says she will be completely healthy for the tournament. Lucas injured her left ankle Sunday on a driving layup attempt late in the first half of Penn State's regular-season finale against Michigan. The senior guard played most of the second half against the Wolverines and said she expects to be feeling even better on Friday. "I've just been taking care of it," she said. "These last couple of days I had a chance to get a little rehab. I feel fine. I'm going to be 100 percent for the tournament." The Big Ten tournament will, as always, have an impact on NCAA tournament seedings, but the significance is anyone's guess at this point. As of Tuesday, ESPN women's basketball blogger Charlie Creme had Penn State seeded third in the Stanford Regional. The Lady Lions will play host to first- and- second round games on March 23 and 25, but just how difficult their path will be is going to de- pend not only on how they fare in Indi- anapolis this weekend but on what hap- pens elsewhere. "It's not just this conference tourna- ment, it's what's going on nationally," Washington said. "We don't have any control over that. Coming into this weekend, we want to win the tourna- ment because we want to win the tour- nament. And what happens with seedings, we leave that up to the com- mittee. You can't predict, even though the pundits try to predict it. Unless you're inside that room, you don't know what factors weigh more than others. "Does RPI weigh more? Strength of schedule? Does geography play a factor? There are so many things up in the air. We're looking forward to this tourna- ment because we want to be Big Ten tournament champs, and that's some- thing we haven't done in a while, since the mid-'90s. We'd like to accomplish that. We'd like to go to Indianapolis and come away with a trophy, and it's a really, really tough thing to do. So we've got to be good in all areas in order to make that happen." M A R C H 5 , 2 0 1 4 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 10

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