Freshman Edwards out 4-6 weeks with injury

From CDT staff reports

UNIVERSITY PARK — Penn State's men's basketball team will be without Bill Edwards for four to six weeks after the freshman forward suffered a partial tear to the medial collateral ligament in his right knee during a Wednesday morning practice, according to a team release.

The 6-foot-6, 235-pound Edwards, one of four true freshmen on the roster, averaged 17 points and nine rebounds for Middletown (Ohio) High School last season. He is likely to be a part of the team’s regular rotation this season.

Penn State plays its lone exhibition game Nov. 6 against Slippery Rock in the Bryce Jordan Center and will open the regular season Nov. 13 at home against Penn.

Battle earns preseason honor

CHICAGO — Penn State junior guard Talor Battle was named to the preseason All-Big Ten team for the second straight year.

The rest of the team, voted on by conference media, includes Ohio State’s Evan Turner, Michigan’s Manny Harris, Pur-due’s Robbie Hummel and Michigan State’s Kalin Lucas, the Big Ten’s Player of the Year in 2009.

Battle, who averaged 16.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 5.0 assists and was a first-team all-conference selection last season, is the first Nittany Lion to make the preseason All-Big Ten team twice.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

Grant on preseason team

CHICAGO — Penn State’s Tyra Grant, a first team All-Big Ten selection last season, was named to the conference’s preseason team by both the Big Ten coaches and media Thursday.

The Lady Lion senior is joined on the squad by two-time reigning conference Player of the Year Jantel Lavender (Ohio State), Jenna Smith (Illinois), Allyssa DeHaan (Michigan State) and Samantha Prahalis (Ohio State).

Grant finished second in the conference and 18th in the country with a 19.6 scoring average last season. She enters the year 13th on the school’s all-time scoring list with 1,447 points.

Ohio State, the five-time defending regular- season champion, was selected as the top team in the league, with Michigan State second. The coaches selected Minnesota to place third and Purdue to place fourth, while the media had the Boilermakers third and the Gophers fourth. Iowa and Illinois, were fifth and sixth, respectively, on both ballots.

Penn State was selected to finish seventh by the coaches and eighth by the media. The Lady Lions will face IUP in an exhibition at 2 p.m. on Nov. 8 at the Bryce Jordan Center before opening the year at Drexel on Nov. 13.

WOMEN'S SOCCER

Penn State slips by Indiana

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — No. 25 Penn State used a Christine Nairn 80th-minute goal to defeat No. 23 Indiana 2-1 at Armstrong Stadium on Thursday.

Danielle Toney tallied her 10th goal of the year in the 21st minute and Katie Schoepfer provided both assists to move the Nittany Lions (10-5-3, 6-1-1 Big Ten) back into a tie for first place in the Big Ten standings with No. 15 Ohio State.

The Hoosiers (10-4-2, 2-3-2 Big Ten) tied it up in the 70th minute as Jocelyn Moses scored on a cross from Carly Samp.

For the first time since a 2-0 win over Wisconsin in 2007, Penn State made both shots put on net. Penn State keeper Alyssa Naeher made four saves.