The women’s Big Ten conference standings are becoming clearer as teams head into the final weeks of regular-season play. The Penn State Nittany Lions currently sit atop the conference standings, having secured at least a share of the Big Ten title.

With the Purdue Boilermakers (10-4, 21-5) losing to Ohio State (9-6, 18-8) last Sunday, the Nittany Lions held onto their one-game lead over both Minnesota and Purdue. Penn State will look to close out the season with a win, when they host the Wisconsin Badgers Sunday March 2 at the Bryce Jordan Center. The game will provide a tough challenge for the Badgers considering the Nittany Lions are currently 7-0 in home games and look to remain perfect on their own court.

With only one game remaining and a share of the conference title already under their belts, all that is left for the Nittany Lions to do is sit back and relax while watching the rest of the teams in the conference compete for the remaining top spots.

“We’re glad to be sitting around on a Thursday watching everybody else beat up on everybody else,” Annie Troyan, Penn State assistant coach, said. “It’s kind of nice when you’re sitting in the top spot and you can watch others play and jockey for position. But we have been on both sides of the stick in previous years.”

Minnesota sophomore shoots her way to player-of-the-week honors

Janel McCarville, a sophomore center for Minnesota, was named Big Ten player of the week after displaying marksman-like shooting ability in the Gophers’ last two wins.

McCarville shot a scorching 93.8 percent from the field last week in Minnesota’s victories over Iowa and No. 12 Penn State. Against Iowa, McCarville was perfect from the field, hitting 8-of-8 and scoring 22 points as Minnesota beat the Hawkeyes’ 77-60.

McCarville was almost as good in the Gophers’ 73-54 upset over Penn State, making 7-of-8 shots (87.5 percent) from the field and going 4-of-5 (80 percent) from the free-throw line. “She’s playing great basketball right now, on both ends of the floor,” Minnesota head coach Pam Borton said. “She’s doing a great job defensively on other teams’ post players. Offensively, I think she’s really learning how to be a dominant player.”

McCarville’s outstanding performances have helped the Gophers to a current five-game win streak, logging wins last week over Ohio State, Iowa and conference leader Penn State.

McCarville’s play will continue to be important if Minnesota hopes to grab a share of the Big Ten title. If Penn State loses to Wisconsin Sunday, Minnesota will be right behind them in the standings, possibly enabling them to win a share of the conference title. However, in order for Minnesota to remain in the race for the championship, they must get wins over Wisconsin Thursday and then the Michigan Wolverines Sunday.

Head coach Pam Borton knows the game Thursday against the Badgers will be a challenge but feels that the Gophers are playing some of their best basketball right now. “They (Wisconsin) are big, they have great size, and they are playing great basketball right now,” Borton said. “But I think we’re playing great basketball right now, and we just want to play our game and make them defend us.”

Minnesota hosts the Badgers at 7 p.m. Thursday and will then travel to Ann Arbor for a 2 p.m. Sunday game against the Wolverines.