Kansas State handles Penn Statein championship of 2002 Preseason WNIT

November 24, 2002; Manhattan, Kan. - No. 3 Kansas State led nearly the entire way as it defeated No. 14 Penn State 88-66 on Sunday night in the championship game of the 2002 Preseason WNIT. 

Penn State (4-1) trailed by only eight points at the break, but was unable to get any closer than that in the second half as Kansas State (4-0) put the game out of reach with a 26-14 run over the final 11:57.

The Wildcats had four players finish in double figures, led by sophomore forward Kendra Wrecker, who tallied a double-double with team-highs in points (26) and rebounds (14). Teammate Nicole Oldhe also finished with a double-double effort as she tallied 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Laurie Koehn added 23 points and Megan Mahoney notched 16 to round out Kansas State's offensive leaders. Wecker earned MVP honors for the tournament, and was joined on the all-tournament team by Ohlde, Penn State's Kelly Mazzante and Tanisha Wright; LaToya Thomas of Mississippi State; and Rachel Woodward of Southern Cal.

Penn State was unable to overcome a second half that saw it shoot .324 (11 of 34) from the field. Tanisha Wright paced Penn State as she tied her career-high with 26 points while shooting 10-of-15 overall.

The Wildcats out-rebounded Penn State 44-31 overall and turned those boards into 29 second-chance points while the Lady Lions managed to tally 13 points on second-chance opportunities. 

Mazzante, a junior guard for Penn State, scored 18 points, tying her with former Lady Lion Tanya Gardner for seventh place on the Lady Lion all-time scoring list with her current total of 1,538 points over 69 career games. Mazzante has scored in double figures in 64 of her 69 career games.

She shattered the Preseason WNIT Tournament scoring mark with her total of 112 points over the Lady Lions's four tourney games. The previous scoring high was held by Arkansas' Christy Smith, who posted 97 points in 1995. Mazzante also tied the Preseason WNIT Tournament record for most overall 3-point field goals, with her total of 12 matching Arkansas' Kimberly Wilson's total in 1995.