Women upset at Penn State

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Amanda Brown scored 27 points and Kam Gissendanner added 16 to lead Penn State to a 69-58 victory over No. 23 Michigan State on Thursday night.

Aisha Jefferson led MSU (15-5, 6-2 Big Ten) with 15 points. The Spartans lost their 13th straight game at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Penn State opened a 15-point lead in the second half. The Spartans rallied and closed within six with 4:58 left, but couldn't complete the comeback.

"I really thought we struggled to do some things we wanted," Spartans coach Joanne McCallie said. "You have to give credit to Penn State for our struggles in doing that. I was proud of our fight back a little bit, being down, but not proud of the way we handled the ball and made decisions."

Brown scored 17 points during a nine-minute stretch in the first half, helping the Lady Lions (10-11, 3-5) take a 36-29 halftime lead.

It was Penn State's first victory over a ranked opponent since December 2005.

"We're thrilled," Lions coach Rene Portland said. "This is a big win over a Top 25 team, obviously in conference play. I think our girls really played very well. We scored when we had to score, but I think the rebounding difference was absolutely tremendous."

Penn State finished with a 44-28 rebounding advantage and made 21 of 26 free throws. The Nittany Lions also shot nearly 45 percent.

The Spartans were just 6-of-7 from the free-throw line and shot only 35 percent from the field.

"We need to do a better job of getting to the free throw line and being aggressive," McCallie said.

"At the same time, in transition defense, we need to be much tougher, really. So we need to be quicker to the ball, quicker to people."