|
|
 |
 |
|
|
| |
Sunday, Dec. 19 1:30pm ET
Garner's 19 points leads Lions | |||||
|
| ||||||
|
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) -- Penn State coach Rene Portland remembers well the games this season when her Lady Lions got behind early -- losses to Duke and Connecticut. Knowing how dangerous Clemson could be, she wasn't about to let them do that again. Andrea Garner scored 19 points and Helen Darling had 10 assists, leading Penn State (No. 6 ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll, No. 9 AP) to a 69-54 victory over Clemson Sunday in the first game of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. In the second game, North Carolina (No. 11 ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll, No. 10 AP) defeated Michigan State 82-65. Garner scored Penn State's first seven points, helping the Lady Lions (7-2) to an 11-2 lead with 14:29 left in the first half. Clemson (7-3) never came closer than seven the rest of the way. "In the games that we've lost, they're the games that we haven't done that in -- in our Duke game, and against Connecticut we were down double-digits early," Portland said. Seven of Darling's assists came in the first half, including a behind-the-back pass to Maren Walseth that gave the Lady Lions their biggest lead of the half, 38-24. Penn State's last three scores of the half -- all either transition baskets or breaking the Clemson press -- came on Darling assists. Darling said she got open looks on Clemson's press because the Lady Tigers were pressuring the ball instead of guarding the whole floor. "I think they were focusing on stopping the top of it, that they didn't pay attention to the back," Darling said. "I just took a chance and threw it." Penn State led 40-30 at halftime and extended the lead to as many as 17 points in the second half. Clemson coach Jim Davis said his team had several opportunity to cut into Penn State's lead, but couldn't penetrate the Lady Lions' defense. "Twice in the second half we cut the lead to six, and just couldn't get it to fall," Davis said. "But I was disappointed in our inability to penetrate the zone, to penetrate the defense. They did a good job keeping it out of there." Davis said Penn State's rebounding advantage -- the Lady Lions grabbed 10 more rebounds than Clemson and had 19 offensive boards -- was one of the keys for Penn State. "They had 19 offensive rebounds, and that's just unheard of," Davis said. "That's not supposed to happen. I don't know how many times they scored out of that, but that was a big difference in the game." Chrissy Falcone and Rashana Barnes each scored 12 points for the Lady Lions. Lisa Shepherd had 11 points and 10 rebounds. Darling had six points and nine rebounds. The Lady Tigers were led by Erin Batth's 14 points and 12 rebounds. Nuria Forns scored 13. | ALSO SEE Womens College Basketball Scoreboard
| |||||