P
enn State's Big Ten semiliate member starting with the
2017-18 season. The Irish, who split
FAST FORWARD
PSU ice hockey team continues its rise in 2015-16
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VARSITY VIEWS
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
PSU's finish lifts
Washington's hopes
Coach Coquese Washington said she
isn't worried about her future at Penn
State after two consecutive losing sea-
sons.
"I don't feel any pressure at all,"
Washington said at a news conference
in March recapping the Lady Lions' sea-
son. "I want to win. I'm competitive. I
don't like to lose at all.
"I played 'Trouble' with my daughter
the other night, and I smashed her. It
wasn't even close. I want to win. My fo-
cus has always been on this program
and not on me. I'm not an administra-
tor, don't want to be an administrator.
… I do my job. I'm competitive, and my
focus is on my team and on the players."
Penn State finished 12-19 overall this
past season and 6-12 in the Big Ten. The
season ended with a 70-59 loss to Pur-
due in the second round of the confer-
ence tournament. It was the team's sec-
ond consecutive losing season, coming
on the heels of a 6-24 finish (3-15 Big
Ten) in 2014-15.
However, there were a number of mit-
igating factors this year, including the
loss of three players – Sierra Moore,
Keke Sevillian and Amari Carter – to
knee injuries for most or all of the sea-
son.
Washington said she saw signs of
progress late in the year. Although the
Lady Lions went 2-6 in February, they
pulled off a 66-61 road win at 15th-
ranked Michigan State and opened the
Big Ten tournament with a 75-66 victo-
ry over Illinois, their first conference
tourney win since 2013.
"I liked the way we finished the sea-
son overall," said Washington, who is
160-124 in nine seasons at Penn State.
"The last 10, 12 games of the season, I
thought we really started to come to-
gether and probably played our best
basketball." – MATT HERB
GADOWSKY
