Lady Lions: Penn State Bounces Back with Victory Against Indiana

It's happened each of the previous four times.

And with Indiana — who hasn't won a Big Ten game all season — as the opponent, a fifth seemed certain not long into Thursday night's women's basketball game at the Bryce Jordan Center.

In its previous four games following a loss, Penn State had won by an average of 22.8 points. Following a 76-44 victory against the Hoosiers, the margin of victory is now 24.6.

"I need to give a better pregame speech in the games before, in the games that we lost," Lady Lions coach Coquese Washington quipped. "Then maybe we won't have to have that stat out there."

One stat Washington won't mind being publicized is the 1,000-point mark sophomore guard Maggie Lucas is now eight points shy of hitting. Lucas led all scorers with 24 points, junior center Nikki Greene added 17 and the Lady Lions (17-5, 7-3 Big Ten) once again avoided their first losing streak since dropping two straight Feb. 17-24 last season.

The Lions bullied the Hoosiers down low, with strong contributions also coming from Talia East (nine points, nine rebounds) and Ariel Edwards (eight points). No Indiana scorer reached double figures.

"It was a huge mismatch inside," Lucas said. "We're lucky to have the post players we have. That was the big difference tonight."

No. 19 Penn State is also lucky to have Lucas, who on Sunday will likely hit the 1,000-point milestone at Minnesota. Tip is 3 p.m.

"Not a lot of people are that prolific of a scorer," Washington said of Lucas, who recorded her 13th 20-point game this season. "We’ll keep our fingers crossed. For Maggie to reach that milestone, it speaks to her work ethic, her intelligence on the court to be able to find her spots and then she's just a doggone good player."

Penn State led by 19 at the half, paced by 17 first-half points from Lucas on 6-of-12 shooting (3-of-4 from 3-point range). With the Lady Lions in front by five with nine minutes remaining in the first half, they went on a 13-2 scoring run to push the lead into double digits and never looked back.

The Lady Lions bench chipped in 29 points, crucial in taking some minutes away from the regulars that can be better used during the stretch run of the conference season.

Note

• Junior forward Marisa Wolfe did not play because of concussion-like symptoms, suffered at Wednesday's practice. Washington said she is day-to-day but doubtful for Sunday's game at Minnesota.