Women's Basketball Faces Penn State In Happy Valley Sunday
12/11/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - The Maine women's basketball team (1-7) will face Penn State (8-2) in Happy Valley Sunday at noon.
Maine is coming off a 69-48 loss to Penn Friday Night at the Palestra. Amber Smith (Ipswich, Mass./Ipswich) led the Black Bears with 11 points in the game. She also scored her 100th career point and posted the sixth double-digit game of her career. Smith is the fastest freshman to score 100 points since Samantha Baranowski (Stanhope, N.J./Lenape Valley Regional) reached 100 points in her 11th game of the 2008-09 season.
Maine tied Penn in the second half with 33 points, but was outscored 36-15 in the first period. Jaymie Druding (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park) scored seven points for the Black Bears and was second on the team to Smith. Tanna Ross (Newburgh, Maine/Hampden Academy) added four points and two rebounds. She has played and scored in every game this season and is the only player who has not started a game to do so.
Penn State is off to a solid 8-2 start this season and had been receiving votes in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll earlier this season. The Nitty Lions are coming off a 76-68 win against Texas Tech in the Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge on Sunday and a win over Army Wednesday.
PSU ranks seventh in the nation in scoring offense (86.2) and is second in three-point percentage (47.5). Five players are averaging double figures for Penn State. Alex Bentley leads the team with 16.6 points and 6.7 assists per game. Maggie Lucas is the reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Week. She is second on the team with 16.1 points per game.
For fans who cannot make it to the game, Don Shields will provide radio play-by-play on the Black Bear Sports Network starting 30 minutes prior to tip-off. The game can be heard on either WAEI-FM 97.1 or GoBlackBears.com, while live stats will be available on GoBlackBears.com(.)
