Lady Lions to finish regular season on the road at Indiana

Penn State women’s basketball (11-17, 6-11) will finish the regular season on the road, in Bloomington, Ind., for a 4 p.m. matchup against the Hoosiers (19-10, 11-6) on Saturday.

After a decisive Senior Night victory over Iowa on Wednesday, the Lady Lions are not just looking ahead to the season finale, but to Sunday’s Big Ten Tournament seeding selections, too.

The tournament will take place from March 2-6, with the top four regular-season finishers receiving a first and second-round bye. Penn State will play on either Wednesday and Thursday to open the tournament, or just Thursday-on (depending on whether the team wins that game). The difference in day (and therefore bulk of games) could be decided by whether the Lady Lions can climb to a No. 10 conference ranking by the end of the regular season.

At 6-11 in the conference, Penn State sits at No. 11 behind a two-way tie for No. 10 between Iowa (7-10) and Rutgers (7-10). The Lady Lions need both teams to lose out for a shot at playing on Thursday as opposed to both Wednesday and Thursday — and while Rutgers is playing a tough Michigan squad, Iowa could very well cruise by last-place Illinois.

“We’re focusing our energy on playing on Thursday instead of Wednesday,” said senior guard Brianna Banks after Penn State’s win over Iowa.

But getting past Indiana with a win won’t prove an easy feat.

The Hoosiers could clinch the coveted double-bye in the upcoming tournament with a win over Penn State, and are currently tied with Minnesota at No. 4 in the conference.

Indiana also has not lost at home this season — the only Big Ten team to post the feat so far this year, and one of 17 teams nationally — and are 13-0 at Assembly Hall.

Led by sophomore guard Tyra Buss’ 19.1 points per game, Indiana ranks ninth in the conference in scoring (just over Penn State) with 70.8 points per game, but hold opponents to 67 points per game. Indiana and Penn State are also evenly matched on the perimeter with 5.3 and 5.0 3-pointers made per game, respectively.

Down low, the Hoosiers are paced by sophomore Amanda Cahill’s 14.6 points per game alongside 26 blocks on the season.

The Lady Lions will also have to avoid sending the Hoosiers to the line, as the team is shooting almost 75 percent from the stripe, led by Buss’ 77 percent average and 181 makes on the season, which ranks No. 2 nationally.

Penn State-Indiana will be broadcast live by the Big Ten Network, with Kevin Lee and Debbie Antonelli on the call.

This story was originally published February 26, 2016 at 8:33 PM with the headline "Lady Lions to finish regular season on the road at Indiana."