In the first half the No. 14 Penn State women's basketball team looked to be pressing -- in the second half the Lady Lions pressed their way to 82-62 victory over the Melbourne Tigers.
After a first half that saw the Lions play sloppy and get outhustled by Melbourne, a team comprised of players ranging from 15 to 34 years old, the Lions used the press to force the Tigers into 16 second-half turnovers. The Lions, who trailed by two at the half, outscored Melbourne 48-26 in the second half.
The Tigers looked like a team that was playing their sixth game in 10 days as their shooting percentage dropped from 48.5 percent to 39.1 percent in the second half.
"I'm not sure it was actually the game that wore us down," Melbourne Tigers coach Paul Simpson said. "We are on the road two, three hundred K's [kilometers]. Our starters did a great job, but they just ran out of gas."
Junior guard Kelly Mazzante was denied most of the first half as her first field goal came eight minutes into the game. After going 2-for-6 in the first half, she went 4-for-5 in the second half and finished as high scorer for the Lions with 20.
The Lions took the lead for good at 55-53 on a pair of sophomore Ashli Schwab foul shots with 7:50 remaining. After a Tigers' turnover, Mazzante hit a three-pointer that would have been well behind the NBA line and it was all over from there on. The Lions finished that 16-0 run and never looked back.
