Penn State

Two mediocre efforts in exhibition games had the Villanova women's basketball team wanting to make a statement against No. 23 Penn State in the Wildcats' season opener yesterday at the Pavilion. "We wanted to show ourselves we could compete with them," 6-foot-2 junior forward Liad Suez said after Villanova produced a 73-65 upset that kept the Nittany Lions winless in three games. "We had been working very hard and had nothing to show for it. " Suez's first two shots were three-pointers.

Penn State receiver Maurice Humphrey was charged with assault yesterday after a fight at an on-campus apartment complex. Humphrey, a redshirt freshman, was arrested early yesterday outside the Nittany Apartments after an assault was reported to campus police. Humphrey, who lives in the apartment complex, was charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, harassment and criminal mischief. He was placed in Centre County Prison and was being held on $50,000 bail. A male victim in the alleged assault was taken to Mount Nittany Medical Center, but his condition was not immediately known, university police officer Dirk Clouse said.

Talor Battle hit a driving shot with 0.3 seconds left to cap Penn State's rally from a 10-point deficit and give the host Nittany Lions a 64-63 victory over No. 23 Illinois last night. Battle finished with 15 points for the Nittany Lions (21-9, 10-7 Big Ten). Demetri McCamey scored 16 points for the Illini (23-8 11-7). In other games: At Arizona State, Landry Fields scored 20 points and Stanford (17-11, 6-11 Pac-10) beat the No. 21 Sun Devils (21-8, 10-7), 74-64. At Xavier, Dante Jackson's 14 points led the No. 17 Musketeers (24-5, 12-3 Atlantic 10)

Penn State had beaten Oregon, 38-20, in the Rose Bowl, but it was like it hadn't won a thing. Unbeaten, untied, really unchallenged in all but two of its 12 games, everybody wanted to know about Nebraska and No. 1 and the national championship. They wore hats and shirts that said they were the 1994 national champions, but winning, Penn State players have learned, is no longer enough. Not even winning every game. Instead, the national champion will be decided by voters, not a title game.

As a freshman, Jill Pearsall, a 1991 Penn Wood graduate, has stepped right into the starting lineup at Penn State, one of the top women's field hockey programs in the nation. Pearsall has started every game as a midfielder for the No. 2-ranked Nittany Lions (12-1-1), who tied Ursinus last Wednesday and whose only loss came to top-ranked Old Dominion, 5-2, in the season opener. Pearsall, a solid defender, has one assist on the season, in a 4-1 victory over the University of Virginia on Sept.

For three games, quarterback Matt McGloin had his Penn State teammates and coaches, not to mention the fans, believing he could take the Nittany Lions on a giddy late-season run that would make up for some disappointments over the first six weeks. But now that the bubble has burst under the avalanche of Ohio State's total domination in the second half of a 38-14 victory Saturday in Columbus, the question is whether McGloin will even continue as the starter. After directing the Lions (6-4, 3-3 Big Ten)

'Penn State Proud," a special half-hour program that includes interviews with Penn State's coach Joe Paterno, clips of yesterday's welcome home celebration and highlights of the Nittany Lions' victory Friday over the Miami Hurricanes in the Fiesta Bowl airs tonight at 7 p.m. on Channel 3. The program will be hosted by KYW-TV reporter Jackie Hays and sports director Lou Tilley, who both covered the national championship game on Friday. UNFORGETTABLE The sounds of Nat King Cole are with us still, almost 22 years after cancer killed him at age 45, and they should be increasing in volume during the new year.

It has been one year and two days since Penn State's orthopedic surgeon, Alexander Kalenak, reconstructed one of the most valuable knees ever to dance across the Beaver Stadium football field. And it has been even longer - Nov. 21, 1987, to be exact - since Kalenak's famous patient, running back Blair Thomas, last ran with a football in anger. Now, after a year of sweating puddles through a spartan regimen of rehabilitation, Thomas, a senior from Frankford High, has pronounced himself fit to resume his spectacular career at Penn State.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - After a disappointing performance at Alabama followed by an intense series of practices during the week, Joe Paterno wanted to see Penn State show widespread improvement on a gorgeous afternoon at Beaver Stadium. For the most part, he got his wish Saturday. The Nittany Lions' defense claimed its first two turnovers of the season Saturday, and never allowed Kent State to run a play inside its 29-yard line. The offense got a touchdown run, a touchdown pass, and some tough running from freshman quarterback Rob Bolden.

Penn State will renew its series against Virginia with games in 2012 and '13, the schools announced yesterday. The games are scheduled in Charlottesville on Sept. 8, 2012, and in State College on Sept. 14, 2013. The teams have met seven times, with Penn State owning a 5-2 advantage. The teams last played in 2002 in Happy Valley, a 35-14 victory by Penn State.