The Penn State women's basketball team advanced to the Sweet 16 on Tuesday night with a 90-80 win over LSU on the Tigers' home floor in Baton Rouge. Despite being a higher seed, PSU was forced to play in a pod hosted by LSU but, undeterred, the Nittany Lions moved on to the Kingston Regional where they will face No. 1 seed UConn -- a team that will have yet another dramatic home court advantage in New England.
Led by First-Team All Big Ten guard Maggie Lucas, Penn State shot the ball well to hold a lead for most of the evening. Lucas had 19 points in the first half alone, hitting five of six threes. She hit another triple in the second half and finished with a game-high 30 points. Along with Lucas' outside shooting, PSU won it at the free-throw line. The hit their first 17 of 17 attempts before two misses in the final minute, and finished the game 25-of-29 from the charity stripe. Mia Nickson added a double-double effort on the inside for PSU, scoring 14 points and grabbing 10 boards.
With UConn now on deck, it will be the first trip to the Sweet 16 for PSU since 2004.
For a full Women's NCAA bracket, click here.
For more on Penn State basketball, check out Black Shoe Diaries.
