Penn State clinched the Big Ten title and finished 14-9 at home defeating Wisconsin 76-55 in State College. The Lady Lions will receive the No. 1 seed at the Big Ten tournament, finishing the season 23-7 and 13-5 in the conference.
It was a season-high 10,394 fans, the fifth largest crowd in the Penn State history, who witnessed the event at the Jordan Center Sunday afternoon.
The Badgers stayed with the league leaders throughout the first half, closing the gap to single digits after allowing the Lady Lions a 10-0 game-opening run. Wisconsin closed to within 9-16 with 12:28 left, but the Lady Lions hit three of their six first-half three- pointers to spur a 13-5 run and led 29-14 with 8:40 left.
UW mounted a 13-9 run to come within 27-36 with 2:24 to go. The Badgers committed 14 first half turnovers while Penn State took advantage of 3 of 14 first half turnovers to close the half with a 40-27 advantage.
Penn State’s Kelly Mazzante, who leads the conference in scoring and ranks fourth nationally, had 18 of her game-high 35 points in the first stanza. The Kodak All- American scored the most points by an opponent against Wisconsin this season.
Wisconsin again closed the gap to 35-44 with 17:16 left to play, but could get no closer as untimely turnovers from Penn State’s full-court pressure continued to plague the Badgers.
“This is a very hostile environment; we didn’t adapt to it well,” Wisconsin head coach Jane Albright said of the intense Penn State environment. “The majority of the game was a lot closer than the score indicates and that we’re very proud of.”
The tough Lady Lion’s defense was hard to overcome. “We’ve been playing the game long enough to know our fatal flaw has been turning the ball over 27 times,” Albright added. “Their defense was quick and we were not able to break the press.”
Wisconsin totaled 27 turnovers for the game and was out-rebounded 30-27.
Sophomore forward Ebba Geibsa led the Badgers in total points and rebounds. Not missing a shot the entire game, Geibsa registered 17 points and posted seven boards.
“I asked Ebba to be a spark,” Albright said of Geibsa’s performance. “She took that to heart and did a phenomenal job. She was perfect from the floor, was our leading rebounder and really was a spark.”
Also showing well for Wisconsin, Stephanie Rich hit two 3-pointers, posted 13 points and brought down six rebounds.
Posting numbers for the Lady Lions, Tanisha Wright registered 13 and five rebounds.
The Badgers finished eight in the conference and expect to play Indiana in the first round of the Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis.
— complied from staff reports
