The Guru Report: Penn State Routed at No. 10 Indiana Sets Up Losing Streak Snapper Showdown With Rutgers

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Back in the old days the Penn State-Rutgers women’s battles for Atlantic 10 supremacy and better pecking order in the A.P. Weekly rankings were must-see viewing either at the home of the Scarlet Knights in Central New Jersey or at Rec Hall and now the Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pa.

Now the rivalry has moved within the Big Ten and taken on a different tone when they meet for part one Thursday night in central Pennsylvania at 7 p.m. — someone will finally jettison a losing streak.

Rutgers remained on the slide Sunday at home in a competitive loss to No. 8 Maryland, the league favorite, in one of the conference openers.

Penn State fared even worse, losing 70-40 at No. 10 Indiana’s Assembly Hall in Bloomington Monday night.

The one bright spot on the Lady Lions (4-5) continued to shine - Makenna Marisa put up 21 points against the Hoosiers (6-2) who several weeks had made it to an all-time high as a top five reputation.

But the skid began for Indy, which dropped from 6th to 10th Monday afternoon.

Mackenzie Holmes had 16 points and 6 rebounds against the visitors. Ali Patberg scored 15, Nicole Cardano-Hillary scored 14, while Aleksa Gulbe scored 11, and Grace Berger scored 10.

The game was the only one involving a local with schedules being light all week due to finals.

In another Big Ten opener Monday night Nebraska rallied and improved to 9-0 beating host Minnesota 70-67 as Sam Haiby had 10 of her 14 points in the fourth quarter against the Gophers (6-5).

On Tuesday three games occur with Rider heading to Wagner on Staten Island in a non conference game while Delaware is at SMU at 8 p.m., and at 7 Penn hosts Saint Joseph’s for a Big Five game in the Palestra.

La Salle hosts Md.- Eastern Shore Wednesday at 6 p.m.

And that is a shorter report.