Five Minutes With Maggie Lucas, Narberth's NCAA Star

Thursday afternoon, the Penn State women's basketball team heads to Baton Rouge, LA, where a first-round NCAA Tournament game against UTEP—and a chance to start expunging the bitter taste of last year's NCAA finish—awaits.

If not for Narberth native Maggie Lucas, it might have been just another Thursday in State College.

The 5-foot-9-inch sophomore guard led the 24-6 Nittany Lions in scoring (and accuracy from the free-throw line and three-point range) this season as they claimed the regular season Big Ten title and earned a No. 4 seed in the 2012 NCAA Tournament.

"Our expectations were to compete at the top of our conference, and we definitely showed we could do that," Lucas told Patch Wednesday in a phone interview from State College.

Losing in the conference tournament provided a little extra motivation for March Madness, Lucas said. So does the memory of the 2011 NCAA Tournament, in which Penn State fell to DePaul by two points in the second round, narrowly missing a berth in the Sweet 16 after leading by nine points at halftime and by seven points with 5:24 to play.

"You have to really be able to put together 40 good minutes of basketball," Lucas said. "Last year ... we got a lead and gave it up. When you get that kind of lead in the NCAA Tournament, it doesn't necessarily mean anything."

Lucas is injury-free, she said, and ready to watch scout film on UTEP, a team she's heard is particularly athletic. Her family will watch Sunday's game from home in Narberth, though if Penn State advances, they may hit the road, Lucas said.

The first-round game is at 5:15 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, shown on ESPN2. The winner plays again Tuesday.

For a little background on Maggie Lucas and her Narberth roots, read by Patch's Tom Sunnergren.