Lady Lions upset No. 2 Texas
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) – There was a time when Penn State point guard Jess Strom was a defensive liability. That’s no longer the case. Strom had seven steals – many leading to fast-break baskets – along with 19 points and six assists to lead the eighth-ranked Lady Lions to a 79-59 upset of No. 2 Texas on Sunday.
“She was definitely on top of her game tonight,” Texas point guard Jamie Carey said. “She’s just a scrapper.”
That was never more evident than when Strom put the exclamation point on a 17-0 second-half run that put the game away. Strom stole the ball from Nina Noonan, hit the layup on the other end, drew a foul, and hit the free throw to convert the three-point play.
“She was like a little gnat-fly,” Penn State coach Rene Portland said. “There were times I wanted to rip her legs off, when Jamie Carey got a 3-pointer and nobody was playing her.”
Strom made all 11 of her free throw tries and Penn State (5-1) finished 20-for-20 from the line.
“I just thought she was ball-hawking all over the floor,” Texas coach Jody Conradt said. “Not to be overlooked, 11-of-11 of the free throws she shot tells you she was aggressive and we just didn’t make plays.
“We put her on the free-throw line way too much. She obviously decided she could take the ball away from us and she did that several times.”
That’s a big improvement Strom’s past performances, when she mostly led a half-court offense and tried not to get beat on defense. Now, a quicker, slimmed-down Strom is leading the transition offense and averaging more than 14 points.
“I think we’re learning to run the ball a little bit better, and Jess is making better decisions,” Portland said.
Not that Strom has had much choice in the matter. Portland, who coached All-American point guards Suzie McConnell and Helen Darling, has always put a lot of pressure on Strom, the only player to play all 40 minutes.
“During the game, I was kind of tired,” Strom said. “But when I looked over at the bench, Rene was like, ‘You are not tired!’ So I’m not tired.”
Kelly Mazzante, who missed her first nine shots, started the second-half run with a 12-foot jumper. Mazzante, who had just four points in the first half, scored 10 of her 19 points in that run, including a pair of 3-pointers.
Tanisha Wright led Penn State with 21 points.
The win extended Penn State’s home winning streak to 22 games and gave the Lady Longhorns (7-1) their first loss. The Lady Lions hadn’t beaten such a highly ranked opponent since defeating second-ranked Iowa 78-64 on March 5, 1993.
Heather Shreiber led Texas with 17 points, and Stacy Stephens had 13 points and 14 rebounds. Jamie Carey scored 13 points, and Kala Bowers 10.
Penn State trailed 22-11 in the first half before a three-point play by Wright started a 19-4 run that gave the Lady Lions a 30-26 lead with 1:04 left. Wright had nine points in the outburst, including a steal and layup for the go-ahead basket at 28-26, and a fast-break layup to end the run.
“We did a good job early. We were really good defensively for the first 10-12 minutes and then we just relaxed,” Conradt said. “That’s what it looked like to me, and we never could get it back.
“On the other hand, I think they made adjustments. Mazzante was not getting her shots, so Wright decided to get hers. They got extra possessions because they forced some turnovers.”