point guard Lindsey Spann with an average
of 14.4 points per game. Their second-
leading scorer is Sierra Moore at 12.2 points
per game. Moore has sophomore eligibility
and only recently began playing for the
Lady Lions a>er transferring from Duke.
The inexperience has led to inconsis-
tency. "You see a lot of ;ts, you see spurts
and er 10 games, it's still a work in
progress," she said. "We're still ;nding
our chemistry, our rhythm. Hopefully,
we're a lot farther along now than we
were at the beginning of the season, but I
anticipate as we start conference play,
we're still going to be discovering ourselves.
Hopefully, we'll be able to have some suc-
cess, because we're starting to ;gure some
things out. Now that we have a little bit
of momentum, we can build and grow
throughout the conference season."
■
FAVORITES Maryland was the preseason choice to
win the conference title in its ;rst season as a Big Ten
member. The Terps lost by 20 in their showcase non-
conference game against Notre Dame, and they also
fell to unranked Washington State, but it would be a
big surprise if they're not in the mix for the regular-
season title come February. Nebraska won 11 of its
;rst 12, including a 60-54 victory over then-No. 9
Duke. The league's other newcomer, Rutgers, is also
o= to a terri;c start. Its only losses through 10 games
were to No. 6 North Carolina and No. 11 Tennessee.
DARK HORSES Minnesota and Iowa have both
come charging out of the gate, with the Gophers winning nine of their ;rst 10
and the Hawkeyes eight of 10. Both score a lot of points and give up a lot of
points. Michigan State doesn't do either – it was eighth in the league in scoring
o=ense and sixth in scoring defense as of mid-December, but the Spartans
can't be counted out.
MVP CANDIDATES There are seven Big Ten players on the Naismith Trophy
watch list: Iowa's Samantha Logic, Minnesota's Rachel Banham, Nebraska's
Rachel Theriot, Maryland's Lexie Brown, Michigan State's Aerial Powers,
Northwestern's Nia Co=ey and Rutgers' Tyler Scaife. Banham recently sur-
passed 2,000 points in her career, and was fourth in the league in scoring as of
mid-December with 18.6 points per game. Powers was ;>h in scoring (18.4
ppg) and tied for ;rst in rebounding (12.8 rpg). One player who wasn't on the
Naismith list was Ohio State freshman Kelsey Mitchell. The former McDon-
ald's All-American has gotten o= to a blazing start, averaging 24.7 points to
rank ;rst in the Big Ten and fourth nationally.
PENN STATE'S OUTLOOK If it wasn't clear at the beginning of the season, it
is now: The Lady Lions are at the very start of a rebuilding process, with the
core members of their three consecutive conference championship teams hav-
ing graduated. This year's nonconference schedule, nearly devoid of nationally
ranked, major-conference opponents, was seemingly designed to help a young
team build a bit of con;dence and momentum. But with one nonconference
game remaining against USF, the Lady Lions had the league's worst record at 3-
7. There's not much point in speculating about Penn State's title-worthiness;
the focus is on the here-and-now, and the goal is to get a youthful roster the
kind of experience that will pay dividends later this season and beyond. The re-
sults so far certainly haven't been favorable. But with only one scholarship sen-
ior on their roster, time is on the Lady Lions' side.
SEASON
PREVIEW
B Y M A T T H E R B
