|
|
 |
 |
|
| |
Saturday, Mar. 25 10:30pm ET
Late Darling shot KOs Iowa State | ||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||
|
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Helen Darling kept Penn State in the race for the national championship -- with her scoring, with her passing and, at 5-feet-7, with her rebounding.
Darling scored the winning basket with 12.6 seconds left and finished with 21 points to lift Penn State to a 66-65 victory over Iowa State on Saturday night in the NCAA Midwest Regional semifinals. The second-seeded Lady Lions (29-4) recovered just in time after a blowing a 12-point lead and will play top-seeded Louisiana Tech in the regional final Monday night. Louisiana Tech advanced with an 86-74 victory over Old Dominion. It will be Penn State's first appearance in the final eight since 1994 and it comes after the Lady Lions battled to the end in a game that did not start until 10:30 p.m. ET. "We're very, very happy," Penn State coach Rene Portland said. "We kept a lot of people up in State College." Urged on by thousands of fans who made the three-hour trip from central Iowa, third-seeded Iowa State (27-6) rallied after trailing most of the second half and led 65-64 after Angie Welle sank two free throws with 27.8 seconds left. Penn State's Andrea Garner then missed a jump shot from the left baseline and Megan Taylor seemed to have the rebound for Iowa State to the right of the basket. But Darling stripped the ball from Taylor and her shot bounced up off the front of the rim and rolled back in. "I really don't remember what happened," Darling said. "I just remember it going off the board." Taylor missed a running jumper from just inside the free throw line at the buzzer, dashing Iowa State's hopes of making a regional final for the second straight year.
"If you're going to tell me Megan Taylor would get that shot to win the game, I'll take that every time," Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly said. "We got a good look to win the game. Theirs rolled around and went in and ours didn't." Maren Walseth added 14 points for the Lady Lions. Darling was 7-for-12 from the field, including a couple of 3-pointers, and also had 11 rebounds, six assists and three steals. "She was a terrific point guard, but 11 rebounds is remarkable," Portland said. "I hope the people from the Nancy Lieberman-Cline Award were watching." That award will be presented to the nation's top point guard. Garner is a finalist. Lindsey Wilson led Iowa State with 15 points and Desiree Francis scored 14. Stacy Frese, Iowa State's second-team All-American point guard, was held to four points on 2-for-6 shooting. "They were locking on me," Frese said. "I didn't have very many looks and the looks I had I rushed them, I guess." Ahead 36-32 at halftime, Penn State opened a 46-34 lead on back-to-back 3-pointers by Chrissy Falcone and seemed to be comfortably ahead at 57-47 with 10 minutes to play. But Wilson, a freshman, sparked Iowa State with strong drives to the basket and the Cyclones stormed back. Wilson scored twice and Welle had six points in a 14-2 run that pulled Iowa State into a 61-59 lead with 3:25 left. It was 63-61 Iowa State after Frese fed Tracy Gahan for a layup, but misses on the next two possessions by the Cyclones gave Penn State a chance and it capitalized. Walseth sank a free throw, then made a nice wraparound pass to Garner for a layup that put Penn State ahead 64-63 with 1:32 remaining. Welle's two free throws then gave Iowa State its final lead. | ALSO SEE Womens College Basketball Scoreboard
AUDIO/VIDEO   Helen Darling gets the roll for the game-winning basket.avi: 760 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Stacy Frese feeds Desiree Francis for the layup.avi: 691 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 | ||||||||||||||||
