The Penn State women’s basketball team cruised to an easy 76-44 victory over Indiana on Thursday night. Maggie Lucas led the way for the Lady Lions with 24 points in the win.

The win was the sixth in seven games for Penn State (17-5, 7-3 Big Ten). For the Hoosiers (5-18, 0-10 Big Ten), it was their 10th loss in a row. The Lady Lions now move within a game and a half of first-place Purdue in the Big Ten standings.

Lucas was too much to handle for Indiana. Her 24 points came on 8-of-18 shooting, including going 4-for-7 from 3-point range. Nikki Greene also had a strong game with 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting. The Lady Lions got a strong showing from its bench as well. All nine players that got on the court got at least 10 minutes. Talia East posted a career-high nine points, and Gizelle Studevent scored 10.

Indiana did not have any players score in double digits. The Hoosiers never had a chance, trailing by 19 points at the break. Penn State pulled away by even more in the second half due to the strong performance from its bench.

The strong defensive performance by the Lady Lions should come as a relief after struggling in their last game against Michigan State. Somewhat troubling, however, was that Greene once again got into foul trouble. Penn State plays its best with Greene on the court, so she will need to figure out how to play without fouling if the Lady Lions wish to compete against better teams.

Next up on the schedule for Penn State is Minnesota on Sunday. The Golden Gophers are stuck in the middle of the Big Ten standings, but they do have some signature wins on their schedule, including a big win over No. 9 Ohio State. The game in Minnesota will be a tough one, but one that the Lady Lions need to win in order to keep pace at the top of the Big Ten standings.