Mar 3, 2006 4 min read

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Kamela Gissendanner, Amanda Brown and Charity Renfro refused to let one of Penn State’s streaks end Thursday. It might take a much stronger effort today to keep two others going. Gissendanner scored 18 points, Brown added 14 and Renfro dominated the middle with 13 rebounds to lead the eighth-seeded Nittany Lions past Wisconsin 80-73 and into their ninth straight quarterfinal game at the Big Ten tournament.

“I thought all season we had our ups and downs. We had to put that all behind us,” Gissendanner said. “Hopefully, we can get win after win and make a run.”

Penn State (13-15) faces fifth-ranked Ohio State, the Big Ten regular-season champion and top seed, on Friday.

A team that is typically one of the nation’s strongest programs now finds itself in an unusual predicament. The Nittany Lions must win the tourney title to avoid missing the postseason for the first time since 1997. Penn State also is in danger of enduring its first losing season since 1973 when it was 3-5.

The Nittany Lions’ big three weren’t about to head home Thursday against a Wisconsin team that beat Penn State two weeks earlier in Madison, Wis.

With Brown in foul trouble much of the second half, Gissendanner made the crucial shots that allowed Penn State to stay in front most of the way.

Adrienne Squire scored 14 points despite hurting her right ankle in the second half and Brianne O’Rourke finished with 12.

To coach Rene Portland, Penn State played more like the usually strong teams fans expect than the one that has struggled most of this season.

“We’re happy to be here one more night,” Portland said.

“We fought very, very hard, our kids were patient and we came up on the winning side.”

Sophomore Jolene Anderson scored 24 points and hit four 3-pointers but it wasn’t enough to prevent Wisconsin (11-18) from losing in the Big Ten tourney’s first round for the third time in four years.

Anderson’s last basket, a 3-pointer with 17.2 seconds left, made her the fastest women’s player in school history to 1,000 points. She has now scored exactly 1,000 points in 57 games. Barb Franke, the Badgers’ career scoring leader, achieved the feat in 64 games.

Jordan Wilson added 15 points in her final game at Wisconsin, while Indianapolis native Janese Banks finished with 10.

But Anderson wanted to leave Indianapolis with more than a record.

“I wasn’t thinking about anything but beating Penn State and playing Ohio State tomorrow,” she said. “I was just focused on helping my team get a ‘W.”‘

Instead, the Nittany Lions controlled most of the game. They used a 10-3 run to jump to a 27-19 lead in the first half, and still led 36-27 at halftime.

Wisconsin, which shot a dismal 39 percent in the first half, played better in the second half. The Badgers opened with a 10-0 spurt to retake the lead briefly.

But Penn State countered with a 3-pointer from O’Rourke and a three-point play from Brown to rebuild a 44-39 lead. The Nittany Lions followed that with a 7-0 run midway through the second that made it 55-47.

The Badgers rallied again, closing within three points twice with about 5 minutes to go. Penn State didn’t let Wisconsin get any closer, though, sealing the win with solid free throw shooting in the final minutes.

It was just what the Nittany Lions were hoping for – one more shot at Ohio State after Sunday’s 61-59 loss to the Buckeyes.

“I think the last game of the season has motivated us for this,” O’Rourke said. “We had it in our heads that we were going to play Ohio State. We wanted to go at them again for a third time.”