Lady Lions face balanced Illini
By Walt Moody
- wmoody@centredaily.comIt’s taken just a week of the Big Ten women’s basketball season to show that you’d have as much chance as Lou Costello trying to figure out “Who’s on First” than predicting which conference team will finish first.
Ohio State (0-1 in league play), the prohibitive preseason favorite, is tied for ninth. Minnesota (2-0), ranked sixth and eighth by the coaches and media in the preseason, is tied for the league lead with Illinois, ranked third and sixth. Indiana (1-0), rated ninth, and Michigan (1-0), rated 10th, are tied for third.
“Say what you want about our conference, but there’s a lot of parity,” said Penn State coach Coquese Washington, whose team plays host to Illinois (10-3) at 7 p.m. tonight. “I don’t think anybody right now can say with any degree of certainty who is going to win the conference. Everybody is going to be guessing.” While not ready to say who will win the Big Ten title, Washington does have an idea what it’s going to take to accomplish the feat.
“I think its going to be who can get on a run and the timing of the run,” the first-year coach said. “Right now, if you win two or three games you might jump from ninth place to first place. It’s the same thing if you lose two or three games — you can go from second place to eighth place.
“It’s going to be whoever can get on a run and win four, five or six games in a row and also the timing of it to get a roll at the right time of the season.”
Washington’s squad (9-4, 0-1) is facing a team that’s on a pretty good roll. The Fighting Illini (10-3) have won four straight, including victories against Northwestern (58-44) and Wisconsin (64-54) in Big Ten play.
Illinois is led by Jolette Law, who took over after veteran head coach Theresa Grentz resigned following the season. Like Washington, Law is in her first season as head coach after a longtime stint as an assistant. Law spent the previous 12 seasons as C. Vivian Stringer’s assistant at Rutgers, which played for the national title last spring.
Washington, who got to know Law through coaching circles, isn’t astounded by the Illini’s start under a new head coach. “It’s not surprising at all,” Washington said. “I knew she had the tools to be a great coach. When you look at Rutgers success when she was there, she was a big reason why they were successful with the recruiting and she did a lot of the scouting and the game preparation stuff.”
Law has one of the more balanced teams in the Big Ten, led by super sophomore Jenna Smith. The forward leads the league in scoring (18.1) and rebounding (9.9).
Washington said Smith presents a lot of trouble for defenses, especially one that has struggled with post defense. “One, she’s a lefty,” Washington said. “When you have a left-handed kid it kind of throws you off a little bit. She’s just a monster on the boards and she’s real aggressive.
“They also do a great job of running the floor,” Washington added. “We’ve got our hands tied. We’ve got to be big and we’ve got to be mobile in the post. We’ve got to keep Smith off the glass and make it tough for her get baskets.”
Every Illinois starter averages at least 8.4 points per game. Junior Lori Bjork is one of the league’s best three-point shooters. She scored 24 points in a 74-65 overtime win in Champaign last season.
“She’s a great 3-point shooter,” Washington said. “When you have Smith being able to create some havoc down low, you can’t lose sight of Bjork on the perimeter or she’ll kill you with a couple of quick threes.” Since her team’s 67-58 loss at Iowa last Friday, Washington has concentrated on improving the team’s zone offense and post defense.
Her squad got a big lift in the post from freshmen Janessa Wolff and Evelyn Lewis at Iowa. Wolff scored a career-high 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, while Lewis excelled on defense.
“Evelyn and Janessa both had a big impact on the game — on the boards, defensively and Janessa obviously scoring,” Washington said. “I won’t hesitate at all to get one or both of them in the game at some point to give us a little bit more size down low.”
Notes: Illinois has not won at Penn State since a 78-69 win Feb. 8, 1998. ... Illinois coach Law, a former Iowa standout, toured with the Harlem Globetrotters from 1990-94 as the only female member of the team. ... Penn State is 11-4 in Big Ten home openers. ... Two sets of former Pennsylvania high school teammates will battle in the game. Penn State point guard Brianne O’Rourke and Illinois reserve center Audrey Tabon were teammates at Oakland Catholic, while the Lady Lions’ Mashea Williams teamed with the Fighting Illini’s Chelsea Gordon at Mercyhurst Prep.