University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Penn State
Heels Suffer First Loss, 103-84 to No. 16 Penn State
November 30, 2011 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 30, 2011
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) - Zhaque Gray scored 25 points and No. 16 Penn State snapped a three-game losing streak in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge by defeating No. 14 North Carolina 103-84 on Wednesday night.
All five Lady Lions starters scored in double figures. Leading scorer Maggie Lucas had 21 points despite sitting out most of the second half with four fouls.
Brittany Rountree led North Carolina (5-1) with 27 points. Laura Broomfield added 21 points and 17 rebounds.
Penn State (6-1) closed the first half on a 22-11 run and led 58-51 at the break. North Carolina was within four with 11:32 remaining, but the Lady Lions used a 14-0 spurt to put away the Tar Heels.
North Carolina committed 19 turnovers, seven in the first 8 minutes.
"We knew they were going to be on us really tight, but we also knew they were pretty undisciplined," said Penn State junior guard Alex Bentley, who recorded her first career double-double with 15 points and 15 assists. "So we knew we had to run perfect offense, and that's what we did tonight."
Penn State was coming off a 103-65 win at Nevada to capture the Nugget Classic in Reno. The Lady Lions have scored 100 points in consecutive games for the first time since 1993.
"I don't know if there's a run-over between games," Gray said. "But Coach always talks about smart offense and smart defense, so we're just trying to buy into what she's saying."
Penn State shot 58 percent (14 of 24) from 3-point range, bolstered by six 3s from Gray.
"They're a great shooting team, there's no doubt about it," North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell said. "When you shoot like they do, you're going to win a lot of games and you don't have to do a lot of other things."
But defensively, the Lady Lions were strong, too. The Tar Heels shot just 30 percent (10 of 44) from the field in the second half.
Coach Coquese Washington said Penn State didn't change its defensive game plan at the break, it just played bigger. With Lucas on the bench, Penn State played two centers for stretches in the second half.
