Dec. 19, 2004
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA - TanishaWright (West Mifflin, Pa.) scored 13 points inthe first half on her way to 23 to lead the LadyLions to a 76-68 victory over Old Dominion infront of 6,658 fans at the Bryce Jordan Center onSunday. Jess Strom (Munhall, Pa.) tallied 20points on the afternoon while Amanda Brown(Kennett Square, Pa.) finished with 11.
The Monarchs made a late rally in the second halfto cut the Penn State lead to four points withtwo minutes left. Wright and Strom both hitcrucial free throws with under thirty secondsleft to clinch the victory.
The Lady Lion defense held off the Monarchs who shot 64 percent in thesecond half and outrebounded Penn State 41-30 inthe game. ODU guard Shareese Grant was held to aseason low 17 points. The Lady Lions came outstrong in the second half opening up a 14-pointlead. PSU shot 13 of 20 to finish at a 68.8percent shooting clip for the game. Although ODUoutscored Penn State in the second half, 38-35,the Lady Lions scored 27 points off Monarchturnovers and notched 13 fast break points.
Penn State started the first half cold from thefield and relied on their defense to build an11-point halftime lead. When Penn State went toits full-court press, the Lady Lions were able tocapitalize several Old Dominion turnovers intopoints, highlighted by a Wright acrobaticthree-point play. Wright ended the half with alayup at the buzzer, to help Penn State to a41-30 lead at the break.