Women's basketball falls to Michigan State in Big Ten semifinal
The No. 23/24 Penn State women's basketball team lost a hard-fought battle to Michigan State, falling in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals, 83-76. Jennifer Brenden had a career game, draining 24 points, including six 3-pointers, both career bests. Jess Strom added 16 points, while Amanda Brown and Tanisha Wright chipped in 13 and 12 points, respectively. The Lady Lions received a scare when Strom went down with an ankle injury in the first half. The All-Big Ten point guard went to the locker room for an evaluation and did not return until the second half. All Strom did however, was score 14 of her 16 points after the break, including the first eight points in the period to put the Lady Lions up, 48-47, with 16:06 left to play. Each team then put together a run, first from Michigan State as the Spartans outscored the Lady Lions 10-2 over the next minute to go up 57-50. Penn State answered with a 15-9 run of its own from 11:26 to 7:28, led by seven points from Brenden which trimmed the lead to one at 66-65. It was as close as the Lady Lions would get as Michigan State outscored the Lady Lions, 17-9, the rest of the way.
