Lady Lions fall to DePaul in soul-crushing collapse, 75-73

Penn State's season will end at home. The season finale location may not have come as a surprise to many. But the situation of that final home game would. The Lady Lions fell to DePaul, 75-73 tonight, in the 2nd Round of the Women's NCAA Tournament at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Was it bad enough that Penn State was eliminated from advancing to the Sweet 16? Yes. Was it bad enough that the loss came at home? Definitely. But it was worse, much worse, as the Lady Lions held as much as a 14-point lead in the early 2nd half of the game, only to see it evaporate into the night.

Lady Lions beat Delaware 64-55 for their best start since 2002

Last basketball season, the Lady Lions started off with a fantastic 16-4 record. But down the stretch, things began to come apart. Penn State went 1-8 in the last nine regular season games. And while the Lady Lions were able to salvage a WNIT berth, it was definitely a disappointment to see such a promising season go down so quickly and so hard.

Maggie Lucas led Penn State with 16 points
in the win over Delaware.
(Photo: PSU/Mark Selders)

But can this season, as the Lady Lions are 10-2 with two games left in the non-conference slate, secure a different fate?

Penn State has been torching opponents with 85 points per game, with an average margin--win or lose--of 18.4 points in PSU's favor. The only losses have come in double overtime at Boston College, and at a Green Bay team that's been in and out of the top 25. Penn State has scored 90 or more points in regulation on four different occasions this year. In two of three overtime games, the Lady Lions have eclipsed 100 points.

But the high-flying offense hasn't been the only show in town. This past weekend in the BJC, Penn State faced Delaware. No big deal, right? Never heard of Delaware being all that great before. But hold on...

Lady Lions scoring 103 points per game

Zhaque Gray (Photo: GoPSUsports.com)

Ok, so it's only two games into the season, and one of those games went into double overtime. But Penn State's Lady Lions are off to a good start, especially on offense, with a two-game scoring average of 103.5.

PSU 112, Dayton 107 (2-OT)

Following the "pre-season" exhibition game with Gannon (PSU W, 91-58), the regular season got underway Friday at Dayton. The Flyers proved to be a scrappy opponent, and a good test for a very young Lady Lions squad.

In a double overtime win, you would think the most important shots would fall in the extra periods. This time, that'd be wrong. Junior guard Zhaque Gray sunk a pair of three-pointers in the final 80 seconds to tie the game and force overtime. It was a clutch play, twice over.

Penn State seemed to have the game in hand early, jumping out to leads of 12-3 and 14-4 in the first five minutes of the first period. But Dayton started to get hot, going on a 12-4 run to cut the Lady Lions' lead to just two, 18-16. A scoring frenzy ensued the rest of the way, as the teams were tied at 40 going into the break.

The second half seemed to be swaying towards Penn State, which was able to break the deadlock by going up 50-46. The lead was short-lived, however, as Dayton again made basket after basket. As bad as it was getting for the Lady Lions, it was far from over. Things went from tense to bleak in a hurry.