University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Penn State
GOPHER WOMEN'S BASKETBALL FALLS TO NO. 24 PENN STATE
12/28/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Penn State used a 16-7 run to break away from a 29-29 tie with 5:27 left in the first half and take a 46-36 lead into the lockerroom at halftime. It would turn out to be a lead the Gophers would never erase in the second half.
"I'm extremely pleased with the way we played during the second half, but it's a 40-minute game and we didn't play that well in the first half," said Minnesota head coach Brenda Oldfield. "In the first half, it was like we were going through the motions, just waiting for the other team to run away. But for this team, it's not about looking up at the scoreboard, it's about playing hard all the time and we can hang with teams like this."
Minnesota made several runs in the last 10 minutes of the ballgame but each was answered in a big way by another Mazzante basket. The Gophers closed to with 70-65 with 6:03 remaining and Mazzante hit a three-pointer. Minnesota made another charge chipping the Penn State lead to 77-72 with 4:14 left and Mazzante drained another trey.
A 5-0 Gopher rally closed the gap to three points at 80-77 before Mazzante's eighth trifecta of the game stalled another Minnesota comeback attempt. In the last 30 seconds of play, the sophomore guard hit 4-of-4 free throws to ice the victory for the Lady Lions.
"She did a good job of finding the open spots against our zone and then they set a lot of picks for her when we went man" said Gopher guard Lindsay Whalen of Mazzante. "It seemed every time we would cut it to three or four, she would hit a big shot. We had a hand in her face all night, but she hit some tough shots."
Lindsay Whalen led the Gophers with 25 points and tied a career-best with seven assists. Rookie Janel McCarville tied her career high with 21 points on 6-of-8 field goals and 9-12 free throws in her Big Ten debut. Kadidja Andersson added 11 points and a team-high nine rebounds before fouling out with 5:05 remaining.
The Gophers outrebounded the Lady Lions by a commanding 44-27 margin. Penn State, however, connected on 11-of-18 three-point field goals and 19-of-24 free throw attempts to counter the Gophers' advantage on the boards.
"It is very difficult to get victories on the road in the Big Ten. I feel that we stole this game tonight," said Penn State head coach Rene Portland. "Minnesota played very well. They had terrific hustle and they fought, but we had Kelly and that was the difference."
A crowd of 3,108 watched the contest, the seventh-largest crowd in Minnesota women's basketball history.
Mazzante's 49-point outburst tied the Big Ten record of Illinois' Kendra Gantt set versus Kent State in 1983.
Minnesota plays its last non-conference game on Sunday at Miami. The Gophers' next Big Ten action is Thursday, Jan. 3, when the Gophers play host to Illinois.
