KINGSTON, R.I. — At 3:21 p.m. Sunday, Penn State sophomore guard Maggie Lucas stepped out onto the floor of the Ryan Center and was bracing for the biggest game of her young career — a Sweet 16 matchup against powerful Connecticut.
The doors had not yet opened for the NCAA Tournament game, the PA system had not yet been turned on. Like many of the 100,000 shots she had made over the summer, Lucas enjoyed the friendly confines of the 4,700-square feet that make up the basketball court.
She and her teammates stretched, laughed and joked while keeping the same focus that helped them win 26 regular-season games, the most since the 2003-04 season.
Lucas and No. 4 seed Penn State kept it close for a while in the first half before No. 1 seed UConn pulled away for a lopsided 77-59 victory.
‘This feeling, it sucks,’ Lucas said in a locker room video posted on GoPSUSports.com. ‘We just kind of got it handed to us. We felt like it was a game we could’ve won had we stuck to our gameplan. We didn’t get into our offense. We got a lot of one-pass shots, and we weren’t hitting our outside shots today like we usually do.’
Bria Hartley, with a game-high 20 points, was one of five players to score in double figures for UConn (32-4).
Mia Nickson scored 19 for the Lady Lions (26-7), who shot 36.1 percent from the floor. Junior guard Alex Bentley and Lucas, a pair of All-Big Ten Conference first-team picks, were a combined 7-of-31 shooting.
‘I feel very confident that we’ll be a better team next year because of this experience,’ Penn State head coach Coquese Washington said.
Penn State fell to 3-7 all-time versus the Huskies, 4-8 in the Sweet Sixteen and 29-23 overall in NCAA Tournament play.
Like many of the previous meetings between Penn State and UConn, the Huskies jumped to a quick 14-4 lead with 16:42 remaining in the first half Sunday. Lucas’ high school teammate, Caroline Doty, opened up the scoring and played tenacious defense, holding Lucas scoreless until the 12-minute mark.
‘Their defense was just good,’ Nickson said in the online video. ‘It was solid. They made us do things that were out of our character. Then they got the ball and just continued to play well together.’
Five quick turnovers and 25 percent shooting in the opening 10 minutes of the first half put the Lady Lions in an early, and equally dangerous, 24-10 hole with 11:20 left in the first half, forcing another Penn State timeout.
Following the timeout, Penn State began a 7-0 run, closing the score to 26-21 with 7:52 remaining in the first half and sending the Penn State faithful into a frenzy before UConn opened the lead back up to nine with just over five minutes remaining in the half.
The two teams proceeded to trade baskets as UConn extended its lead to 43-29 at the half. Bentley and Nickson led the Lady Lions with nine points each, as Lucas struggled to find open space going only 2-for-7 from the field.
UConn extended its halftime lead to 20 with 17:48 left in the game, forcing a Penn State timeout. Penn State responded with a 7-0 run but was unable to cut into the deficit any more as UConn extended its lead to 68-44 with 7:09 left in the game.
As UConn’s fans rose to applaud their team’s dominating victory, Lucas walked off the court dejected.
The good news is, the Lady Lions will return all but one starter next season.
‘UConn made us better today,’ Lucas said. ‘We’ll be more prepared for a game like this next year. We know what it is to be at that level, and we wanna be at that level next year.
‘So, it’s time to get back to work. I’ll be in the gym tomorrow. We’re gonna get better.’
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