No. 16 Minnesota women handle Penn State

MINNEAPOLIS -- Never mind the Big Ten standings. Minnesota wanted to prove it wasn't as bad as it looked when Penn State beat the Gophers by 30 points last month.

They succeeded.

Janel McCarville scored 18 points on 7-for-8 shooting and Lindsay Whalen added 15 as the 16th-ranked Gophers beat No. 12 Penn State 73-57 on Sunday.

Minnesota avenged its 83-53 loss to the Lions on Jan. 6.

"It's been a nightmare since we played Penn State," Gophers coach Pam Borton said. "I told them, 'I don't know about you guys, but that's left a bad taste in my mouth since we played them.'

"I don't think I had to say very much."

Minnesota frustrated the Lions with their pressure defense and held Kelly Mazzante, the nation's third-leading scorer who averaged 24.6 points per game and had 22 points in Penn State's win over Minnesota, to 11 points -- two in the first half.

"It's probably the best defense we've faced this season," Lions coach Rene Portland said.

Even though the loss prevented the Nittany Lions from clinching the Big Ten title outright, Penn State can still clinch if it wins its regular-season finale against Wisconsin on March 2.

"We have to go home and obviously regroup," Portland said.

Minnesota, meanwhile, moved into a tie for second place in the conference standings with Purdue, which lost to Ohio State on Sunday.

"That gave us a little more motivation," McCarville said.

But the main motivation was erasing the pain from last month's loss.

"We had something to prove today and we wanted everyone to know that our 30-point upset at Penn State was just a fluke," McCarville said.

Corrin Von Wald had 11 points for Minnesota. Both Von Wald and Whalen had six assists. Reserve Kim Prince scored all eight of her points late in the first half to help spark a 23-4 run at the end of the first half and start of the second that put Minnesota in control.

Tanisha Wright scored 17 points to lead Penn State.

"We didn't attack," Portland said. "We did a lot of standing around, we weren't the typical Penn State team."

Mazzante was harassed all afternoon by Von Wald and the 6-foot-2 McCarville. On offense, Minnesota finished with 21 assists to Penn State's 10.

Minnesota, which led by as many as 23 points, opened the second half with 13 unanswered points on a series of short jumpers and layups. Whalen had two layups off steals during the run.

McCarville hit a layup at the 15:19 mark to give the Gophers a 44-26 lead. Jess Strom's 3-pointer at the 14:36 mark finally ended Penn State's drought.

"Our defense creates offense," Whalen said. "We wanted to get them frustrated at us, and it worked. We got them flustered."

Von Wald had Minnesota's prettiest basket of the day, driving in from the right side and spinning around a defender for a layup to give the Gophers a 54-38 lead.

The Gophers can still finish in a tie for the conference title if they win their remaining games against Wisconsin and Michigan and Penn State loses to the Badgers.

No. 16 MINNESOTA 73, No. 12 PENN STATE 57

PENN STATE (22-7)

Mazzante 5-11 0-0 11, Brungo 3-6 0-1 6, Joseph 2-2 0-0 4, Strom 3-8 2-2 9, Wright 8-17 1-3 17, Brenden 0-4 6-6 6, Croser 0-0 0-0 0, Schwab 2-4 0-0 4. Totals 23-52 9-12 57.

MINNESOTA (21-4)

Von Wald 5-10 0-0 11, Andersson 3-6 0-0 6, McCarville 7-8 4-5 18, Schonrock 1-3 3-4 6, Whalen 5-10 4-4 15, Prince 4-7 0-0 8, Hill 0-0 0-0 0, Lieser 0-1 0-0 0, Bolden 0-0 0-0 0, Gilbert 4-4 1-1 9, Nelson 0-0 0-0 0, Collison 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-49 12-14 73.

Halftime--Minnesota 31, Penn St. 26. 3-Point Goals--Penn St. 2-9 (Strom 1-2, Mazzante 1-3, Brungo 0-1, Brenden 0-3), Minnesota 3-9 (Whalen 1-2, Von Wald 1-3, Schonrock 1-3, Lieser 0-1). Fouled out--None. Rebounds--Penn St. 24 (Joseph 5), Minnesota 28 (Whalen 7). Assists--Penn St. 10 (Strom 6), Minnesota 21 (Von Wald, Whalen 6). Total fouls--Penn St. 17, Minnesota 15. A--12,438.