Lady Lions avoid meltdown against Indiana, hopefully sparking some urgency

Julia Trogele (Photo: PSU)

Penn State nearly face-planted into the hardwood of Assembly Hall, as the Lady Lions trailed the Hoosiers by as many as 16 points. Penn State (21-6,10-3) trailed for 39 minutes and 20 seconds. But taking a one-point lead--their first of the night--with 40 seconds left was all the Lady Lions needed to avoid a huge upset and what could have been an even bigger let-down after failing to rise to the occasion Thursday night in a loss to Michigan State.

With just three regular season games left on the schedule, Penn State is in a position to win or tie for a Big Ten title, or at least hold on for a second-place finish heading into the conference tournament. Of course, the Michigan State game was supposed to be the moment when this team put everything together and prove it's ready for prime-time.

Lady Lions storm back to beat ranked Iowa, 68-59

With last night's win over the Hawkeyes, Penn State is now tied for first in the Big Ten, and is one of only three teams with 12 wins at this stage of the season.

(Photo: CDT)

Junior guard Zhaque Gray drained a three-pointer to complete a late run in the second half as the Penn State Lady Lions (12-3, 1-0) rallied from a seven-point deficit with 6:33 remaining to upset No. 14/13 Iowa (12-2, 0-1), 68-59, in the Big Ten opener for both teams. Penn State outscored the Hawkeyes, 20-4, in the final 6:30 to post their first win over a ranked team since defeating No. 20 Michigan State, 68-60, on Jan. 17, 2010. The Lady Lions claimed their first win in a Big Ten opener since the 2004-05 season.

Sophomore guard Alex Bentley led the Lady Lions' offensive charge with 19 points on 7-of-15 shooting, including three three-pointers. She also dished out three assists and pulled in two rebounds. Gray was 6-for-12 from the field en route to 14 points to go along with five rebounds and a career high-tying five assists.

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.