PENN STATE COMEBACK SINKS BADGERS IN OT, 58-56

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Wisconsin women's basketball team survived a seven-minute scoring drought and staved off an inspired comeback by Penn State to force overtime Thursday, only to see Tyra Grant lead the Nittany Lions to a last-second, 58-56 win at the Bryce Jordan Center.   Despite leading by as many as 17 in the second half, the Badgers couldn't find a counter to Grant's game-high 32 points on 12-for-24 shooting from the floor and a 5-for-7 performance at the free-throw line.   Grant accounted for 12 of Penn State's 13 points in the overtime, including the game-clinching basket as time expired. The bucket broke the 56-56 tie that Wisconsin's Teah Grant forced with her layup with 14 seconds to play and snapped the Badgers' two-game win streak against Penn State (8-10, 3-5 Big Ten).   "It's a heart-breaker," said UW head coach Lisa Stone. "We showed enough toughness to get back in it and our kids worked hard, but we come away empty."   For the second straight game, Alyssa Karel led the way for the Badgers with 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting, including a 3-for-4 effort from beyond the 3-point arc. Mariah Dunham added 12 points to go along with nine rebounds, while Teah Grant chipped in eight points and Lin Zastrow and Tara Steinbauer each finished with six.   The Badgers (14-6, 4-5 Big Ten) led by as many as 13 points in the first half and built a 24-15 lead at halftime, with Penn State's scoring output the second-lowest allowed by the Badgers in a half this season.   Penn State managed just 25 percent shooting in the period (6-for-24), while the UW connected on 10-of-21 from the field (47 percent).   The Badgers extended the lead on the other side of intermission, building the advantage to 17 points just 6 1/2 minutes into the second half. A layup by Tara Steinbauer returned the cushion to 17 points at the 10:21 mark, but that was the last the Badgers would see of the scoreboard for a while.   The UW went scoreless over the next 7 minutes, 2 seconds as Penn State put together a 19-0 run that has the hosts leading, 43-41, with just 3:29 left to play.   Tyra Grant was the catalyst for Penn State's run, scoring 11 points in the second half.   "We needed to get more production out of the post," Stone said. "We missed about 10 easy looks during that 19-0 run.   "We just couldn't get it to fall."   Once the Badgers broke their scoring drought, they were able to keep themselves in the thick of things down the stretch in regulation. Dunham put in a jumper with 50 seconds to play that knotted the score at 45-45 and forced overtime.   It was a back-and-forth battle from there, as Penn State took a 51-47 lead on a 3-pointer by Tyra Grant with 2:55 to go before Teah Grant brought the Badgers back to even with a jumper at the 2:05 mark.   The Badgers grabbed a 54-53 lead with 59 seconds to go as Karel splashed a 3-pointer, but Tyra Grant answered with a jumper on the Lions' next possession to make it a 55-54 lead for Penn State.   She extended the PSU lead to 56-54 with a free throw with 23 seconds left, but Teah Grant then responded with a drive to the basket to tie things up with 00:14 showing on the clock.   In the end, as she had all night, Tyra Grant found a way to get to the basket and sealed things for the Nittany Lions at the buzzer.   "I felt good going into the overtime and I thought our kids showed toughness," Stone said. "We just didn't finish.   "That's the bottom line."   The Badgers continue their road swing Sunday in a 1 p.m. showdown with Michigan State in East Lansing, Mich. The game will broadcast live on the Big Ten Network.