Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Women's Basketball Set for Wednesday's Clash with No. 16 Penn State
12/20/2011 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 20, 2011
WHAT: Bucknell Bison (2-9) vs. No. 16 Penn State Lady Lions (9-2)
WHERE: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
WHEN: Wednesday, Dec. 21, 7 p.m.
RADIO: WVBU 90.5 and SportsJuice.com
STREAMING VIDEO: BucknellBison.com 
LIVE STATISTICS: BucknellBison.com 
Complete Game Notes 
ABOUT THE GAME
Bucknell will face its toughest test of the year on Wednesday when it hosts nationally ranked Penn State at 7 p.m. at Sojka Pavilion. The Bison, who are winless in its previous seven meetings with the Lady Lions, are coming off a 20-point road loss at Cornell, while Penn State posted a 103-42 victory over Wagner in its latest outing.
Live play-by-play of all the game action can be heard on local radio at WVBU 90.5 FM and online at SportsJuice.com. Kevin Foedinger will have the call. Live stats and video will also be available on Bison Vision at BucknellBison.com.
WITH A VICTORY OVER PENN STATE, BUCKNELL WOULD...
• Win its first ever game against the Lady Lions.
• Improve to 3-3 at Sojka Pavilion this winter.
• Win back-to-back games at Sojka Pavilion for the first time since Feb. 16 and Feb 19, 2011.
• Improve to 1-1 this season against other Pennsylvania schools. The Bison lost to Saint Francis (Pa.) in November.
QUICK FACTS
• Bucknell never led against Cornell. It was the third game this season in which the Bison never had a lead.
• Six of Bucknell's nine losses have been by eight or fewer points. The other three were by 17 or more.
• Lindsay Horbatuck was named the Susquehanna Valley Limousine Bison Athlete of the Week on Dec. 13 after recording her second double-double of the season in the win over Fordham.
• Bucknell has used five different starting lineups this season.
• Seven different players have led Bucknell in scoring in its 11 games this season.
• Bucknell's recently ended eight-game losing streak is tied for the third longest in program history.
• Amy Zehner was named the Patriot League/Anaconda Player of the Week and the Rookie of the Week on Nov. 21.
• With a 57-56 defeat to Youngstown State on Nov. 16, Bucknell suffered its first one-point loss since Jan. 3, 2007 (L, Iona, 45-44).
• The Bison went 8-5 at home but 3-12 on the road during the 2010-11 season. All three road victories came during Patriot League play.
• The Bison were fourth in the 2011-12 Preseason Patriot League Poll.
LAST MEETING WITH PENN STATE - DEC. 28, 2010
• Penn State 96, Bucknell 48 (Bryce Jordan Center)
• Shelby Romine led Bucknell with 11 points and Lindsay Horbatuck added 10 rebounds, but Penn State proved too strong. The Lady Lions shot 45.5 percent from the field and forced the Bison into 34 turnovers on the night.
• Bucknell did its best to hang in during the first few possessions, but the Bison, whose bench was depleted due to injury, were overpowered throughout the game. Bucknell forced Penn State into a tough shot to avoid a shot clock violation on their first possession, and turned that into a jumper for Felicia Mgbada at the 18:47 mark. The Bison then turned the ball over on five of their next seven possessions.
• At the half, Penn State held a 49-16 lead. The frame ended with the Lady Lions' Maggie Lucas claiming 12 of the team's final 17 points. All of those attempts came from 3-point distance.
• Romine opened the second half with a pair of 3-point shots for the Bison. All 11 of the guard's points came in the second.
• With the win, Penn State improved to 5-0 on its home court against Bucknell.
HISTORY VS. PENN STATE
• The series between Bucknell and Penn State began in 1974, but the two teams have met just seven times in series history. The Lady Lions have dominated in the series, winning six of seven games by double digits and an average of 25.3 points overall. The Bison have been a bit more successful at Sojka Pavilion with an average loss of 12.0 points in two games.
• Lindsay Horbatuck finished with 10 rebounds - five offensive and five defensive - when Bucknell and Penn State squared off last season, and it hasn't been as long as you might think since the last double digit rebounding performance. Cosima Higham grabbed 11 boards against the Lady Lions in 2009.
• Hope Foster joined Bucknell's 1,000-point club when the Bison and Lady Lions met in 2007. Foster, who had 11 points in the contest, eventually finished her career with 1,256 points, ranking 10th all-time in program history. She also had three blocked shots in the contest, the most by a Bison since 2002.
• The 2007 meeting ended with Bucknell falling 64-55. That marked Penn State's smallest margin of victory in series history at nine points. The Lady Lions' largest margin of victory came just last year when they defeated the Bison by 48 points, 96-48.
• Molly Creamer set the Bucknell high mark in scoring in 2002 when she posted 28 points against Penn State. She just edged out Desire Almind who had 26 points in that game to go along with 10 rebounds for the Bison's only double-double in the series.
• Recent Results:
Nov. 15, 2002: Penn State, 86-72
Dec. 15, 2007: Penn State, 64-55
Dec. 9, 2008: Penn State, 81-44
Nov. 19, 2009: Penn State, 77-62
Dec. 28, 2010: Penn State, 96-48
ABOUT THE LADY LIONS
Penn State has won seven of its last eight games, three of those victories saw it total 103 points. The last time the Lady Lions hit the century mark was in a 61-point win (103-42) against Wagner last Sunday, while the first were in back-to-back outings, 103-65 at Nevada and 103-84 to then-No. 14/13 North Carolina, in late November.
Penn State has three players averaging in double-digit scoring this winter - Maggie Lucas (19.0), Alex Bentley (15.5) and Zhaque Gray (12.5). The Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year, Bentley recently became the 33rd Lady Lion to reach 1,000 career points. Lucas is back after being named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, the Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year and a Full Court Press Freshman All-American second team selection.
FIRST TEAM LEADERS
Rachel Voss led Bucknell in scoring (13), steals (3) and assists (4) at Cornell on Sunday. It was the first time this season that the junior had held the team's high mark in each of those categories. Shelby Romine also clocked another first, leading Bucknell in rebounds (6) for the first time in her career.
NO SHOT BLOCKING SHORTAGES HERE
If there were any doubt as to Felicia Mgbada's defensive prowess, the junior has been putting those to rest with her recent blocked shots totals. Mgbada recorded a season-best three blocks at Cornell on Dec. 18, giving her four straight games of two or more rejections. The last Bison to achieve the same consecutive feat was Hope Foster who did it three times as a senior in 2007-08. Foster graduated as Bucknell's all-time blocked shots leader (344), while her 84 rejections as a senior ranks third on the program's single-season record list.
LOCATING THE LEADING SCORER
Bucknell has had seven different leading scorers in 11 games this winter. Only twice has the same player had the high mark in consecutive games. Amy Zehner led against Youngstown State (25) and Buffalo (20), while Shelby Romine was the high scorer opposite Morgan State (13) and Niagara (20).
BOARD GAMES
Bucknell has failed to out-rebound each of its last five opponents, breaking even with Saint Francis (Pa.) and NJIT, but trailing on the boards vs. Canisius, Fordham and Cornell. It has been quite some time since the Bison had a similar streak. The last time they went more games without out-rebounding its opponents was nine games at the end of the 2007-08 season and the beginning of the 2008-09 campaign.
AGAINST BIG-TIME FOES
It doesn't happen very often that the Bison take on an opponent in the nation's top-25. The last time Bucknell faced a nationally ranked opponent was during the 2007-08 season. After squaring off with No. 15 Duke, and falling 64-43, in Durham, N.C., the Bison went on to face No. 2 North Carolina in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on March 23, 2008. The Tar Heels advanced in the postseason with an 85-50 victory in Norfolk, Va.
THE CLUB CONTINUES TO GROW
After leading the team in scoring and finishing second in rebounding at Cornell, Rachel Voss became the fourth current Bison, and the third this season, to reach 200 points and 200 rebounds in her career. Now with 385 points and 200 rebounds, she joins Christina Chukwuedo (268 pts.-209 reb.), Lindsay Horbatuck (292 pts.-315 reb.) and Felicia Mgbada (291 pts.-235 reb.) on the list. Horbatuck was the only Bison on the current roster to enter the season already at the 200-200 mark.
MGBADA BLOCKS
Felicia Mgbada continues to assert herself defensively in the paint. For the ninth time this season, the junior recorded at least two blocked shots in a single game when Bucknell took on Cornell. Mgbada is up to 19 blocks on the season to lead the team and has already surpassed her single-season high. As a freshman, she totaled 14 blocked shots and improved that number to 18 as a sophomore.
The junior also has 27 blocks when playing at Sojka Pavilion, ranking fifth all-time at the facility.
UP NEXT
Bucknell will play its next two games on the road. First up is West Virginia at 12 p.m. on Dec. 28 in Morgantown. The Bison will then wrap up the 2011 portion of the schedule on Dec. 31 with a 1 p.m. matchup at Mount St. Mary's in Emmitsburg, Md.
