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world. Washington said Taylor would "rather shoot the ball than ride the bike," but when one of your teammates is nick- named Machine Gun Maggie and is poised to become the second-leading scorer in school history, well, it's only natural to see yourself as a pass-1rst point guard. So even though Taylor went into Penn State's early-season games and practices with Washington's insistent words ringing in her ears, old habits can be hard to break. "The 1rst month or two of practice, it was still new to me and I was passing up open shots. As soon as I did it, I knew I was gonna be on the bike," Taylor said. "She got me out of it pretty quick with a little bit of punishment. I'm doing better now. I haven't been on the bike in a while." Indeed, Taylor has been scoring more than at any point in her career, and her emergence as a do-it-all point guard has been one of the keys for the Lady Lions as they prepare for the NCAA tournament. They are coming o2 their third consecutive Big Ten regular-season championship, and while they've dropped two of their past three games, including a stunning 99-82 loss to Ohio State in the quarter1- nals of the Big Ten tourney, they will get to regroup on their home court at NCAAs, with 1rst- and second-round tournament games set to take place at the BJC on March 23 and 25. (The brackets had not been announced at press time.) Two-time Big Ten Player of the Year Maggie Lucas has been the focal point, as usual – a gaudy scoring average of 21.4 points per game will do that – but Lucas's three fellow seniors have all played crucial roles, Taylor among them. Her scoring average – 11.7 ppg – is up nearly 1ve points per game from her junior year, and the new focus on point-production didn't detract from the other facets of her game during Penn State's highly successful reg- No one in women's basketball was hitting free throws at a more impressive clip than Maggie Lucas at the end of the regular season. Lucas's 95.9 percent success rate was the highest in Division I, just ahead of Fairleigh Dickinson sophomore Kelsey Cruz (95.8). Heading into the Big Ten tournament, the Penn State senior guard had made 165 of 172 attempts. Lucas attributed her success to a more relaxed approach at the line. "I think that's helped me take it to another level and step that percentage up," she said. "Before I shoot a free throw, I always breathe and relax my shoulders." Lucas had been outstanding from the line all along, hitting 88.7 percent of her attempts in her 2rst three seasons. But going into this season, Penn State assistant coach Fred Chmiel thought there was room for im- provement, so he worked with her to re2ne her approach. "We just tried to cut out the fat a little bit," Chmiel said. "All the margin for error she had within her shot, the rhythm of her shot and the technique of her shot – we just tried to take out the fat, simplify it, and it's helped her out. It's a cleaner shot. There's less room for er- ror, and she's done a great job of perfecting it." Part of that process was to eliminate unnecessary movement. "A lot of shooters do useless stu3 at the free throw line," Chmiel said. "We tried to stream- line her start-up: the dribbles she takes, how her shoulders are angled when she starts her shot, the angle that she 2nishes at. She's got a great shot. We just tried to cut out all the nonsense, all the useless stu3 that she didn't need." That extra work has earned Lucas another mention in the Penn State record books. With her seven makes against Northwestern on Feb. 20, she passed Kahadeejah Herbert into 2rst place on the school's career free throws list. Herbert's record of 512 free throws had stood for 29 years. – M.H. FREE AND EASY A relaxed Lucas shines at line for Lady Lions EIGHT IS ENOUGH Lucas was 8 for 8 from the free throw line in Penn State's Pink Zone victory over Wisconsin. Photo by Bill Zimmerman

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