Penn State Penn State/Iowa Iowa Women's College Basketball recap on ESPN

Consuegra and Lindsey Meder scored 18 points apiece as Iowa beat Penn State (No. 13 ESPN/USA Today, No. 16 AP) 79-64 Sunday. A crowd of 11,036, Iowa's largest of the season, saw the Hawkeyes rebound from a 27-point loss at Ohio State with its first victory against a ranked team in nearly three years.

"It was unbelievable," Consuegra said. "I have a headache right now. I don't remember the last time I walked off the court with a headache."

Iowa (9-8, 4-3 Big Ten) led for all but 16 seconds and beat Penn State in every area. The Hawkeyes outrebounded the Nittany Lions 44-30, frequently beat them down the floor for layups while shooting 50.8 percent, and matched a season high with 16 steals.

Penn State (12-6, 4-3), losing for the third time in four games, shot just 38 percent and committed 24 turnovers, 15 in the first half.

"I thought Penn State was a little bit shocked at how good our defense was in the first half," Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. "I think our players were having fun playing defense and that inspired them to play even harder."

Randi Peterson added 16 points and 16 rebounds, and Jenni Lillis scored 11 for Iowa, which had not defeated a ranked team since an 87-76 win over No. 19 Wisconsin on Feb. 13, 1998.

Jessica Brungo led Penn State with 16 points. Kelly Mazzante, the Big Ten's leading scorer with an 18.3 average, was held to 12 points on 3-for-14 shooting.

"They forced us into a lot of turnovers," Penn State coach Rene Portland said. "We had six in the first six minutes of the game, maybe in less time than that. I thought their defense was terrific."

Penn State led only once, at 11-10, a lead Iowa quickly erased with a 17-1 run. Rushing its shots and handling the ball poorly, Penn State went 5 1/2 minutes without scoring and 6 1/2 minutes without a field goal.

Iowa, meanwhile, got points from five different players, including 3-pointers by Meder and Leah Magner, in building a 27-12 lead.

"They did a nice job with their high-low on offense," Penn State's Maren Walseth said. "We worked on that in practice, but we didn't get enough pressure on the high post and when we fronted the low post, we didn't have help from the other side."

Penn State got the lead down to seven points, but Iowa came right back and led 42-26 after Mary Berdo hit a 3-pointer from 25 feet and Consuegra stole the ball and drove for a layup. It was 42-28 at halftime.

Iowa led by as many as 22 points in the second half before Penn State pulled to 70-58 on Brungo's basket inside. But Peterson scored off an offensive rebound, then took a lob pass from Magner for a layup to make it 74-58 with 4:29 left.

Penn State got no closer than 13 points thereafter.

ALSO SEE
Women's College Basketball Scoreboard

Penn State Clubhouse

Iowa Clubhouse