Maren Walseth Position: Assistant Coach Experience: 5th season Alma Mater: Penn State '02

Phone: 814-863-2672 • Email: msw154@psu.edu

Walseth is in her fifth season at her alma mater where she is primarily responsible for coaching the post players. In addition to her duties as the post coach, Walseth concentrates on special situations for the Lady Lions, while also playing a significant role in the team's recruiting and opponent scouting efforts. She is also the team liaison for academic advising.

"Simply put, Maren is an outstanding post coach and I am very pleased with her development of our post players," Washington says. "Her passion for Lady Lion basketball shows itself every day and that passion rubs off on everyone involved with our program."

Walseth's influence on center Nikki Greene became evident in 2010-11 as Greene grew into an all-conference performer in her sophomore season. A daunting figure in the paint, Greene became one of the top shot-blocking forces in the conference en route to Big Ten All-Defensive Team honors. She tallied a career-best 75 rejections, which is sixth on the Penn State single-season list, and became the seventh player in school history with 100 blocks. A 2011 All-Big Ten honorable mention selection, Greene was also solid on the boards for the Lady Lions as she accounted for 7.8 rebounds per game to rank sixth in the Big Ten.

With Walseth's guidance, Mia Nickson's development we astounding as she accounted for 10.5 points and 6.7 rebounds per game after sitting out the 2009-10 season due to NCAA transfer rules. Nickson was ninth in the Big Ten in rebounding and 14th in free throw percentage (.795). Nickson finished second in the league in field goal percentage with a .521 effort on the year and was third in offensive rebounds (3.2).

In 2009-10, Walseth guided Greene, who was the only Lady Lion to start every game. Greene took home Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors (Dec. 14) and finished second on the team in rebounding (6.2 rpg). She was a presence in the paint, rejecting 55 shots, the second-best total among freshman in Penn State history and the ninth-highest single-season total in Lady Lion history.

Additionally, Walseth worked with Marisa Wolfe, who was selected as the Big Ten Freshman of the Week on Feb. 22, and Janessa Wolff, who finished her career 15th in school history with 67 blocked shots.

On the academic front, Penn State continued to find success with five Lady Lions earning Academic All-Big Ten honors. The Lions had seven players earn 3.0 or better GPAs in the fall semester and seven 3.0s or higher in the spring. Additionally, four Lady Lions were on the Dean's List in the spring semester.

The former Lady Lion guided a young group of post players into becoming regular contributors in 2008-09. Julia Trogele was solid for the Lady Lions as she led the team in rebounding and finished fourth in scoring, while Wolff was fifth on the team in scoring and second in rebounding.

As the academic liaison, Walseth guided the Lady Lions to a 3.20 team GPA in the fall semester and a 3.12 team GPA in the spring semester during the 2008-09 campaign. Penn State also landed six student-athletes on the Academic All-Big Ten list, which is tied for the most honorees in program history.

Walseth worked with a very young group of post players in her first season at Penn State but found success when she developed the young, inexperienced group into solid contributors. Wolff corralled 140 rebounds in her rookie campaign, which is seventh on Penn State's freshman charts. She also led all Big Ten freshmen in field goal percentage.

Academically, the Lady Lions racked up three 4.0 GPAs during the 2007-08 academic year.

Walseth returned to Happy Valley after three seasons as an assistant coach at the United States Naval Academy. While at Navy, Walseth was primarily responsible for working with the post players, including the development of All-Patriot League performer Nikki Curtis and All-Lowe's Senior CLASS first team selection Kate Hobbs. Additionally, Walseth assisted with recruiting, prepared team scouting reports, managed the film exchange program and worked with the male scout team. She also served as the academic liaison for the women's basketball team.

As a player at Penn State, Walseth was a key member of the Lady Lion team that advanced to the 2000 NCAA Final Four. Walseth, who was also a member of the 1998 WNIT Championship team, is 15th on the Lady Lions' career scoring charts with 1,328 points and 17th in rebounding (645). During her career, Walseth earned All-Big Ten first team accolades in 2000 and 2001, a Kodak All-District berth in 2001 and a spot on the Big Ten All-Freshman squad in 1998.

After her time at Penn State, Walseth, who was the Sacramento Monarch's third-round pick in the 2001 WNBA Draft, spent four years in the professional ranks. Walseth spent the 2002 season with the Washington Mystics of the WNBA, before heading overseas to play with Cavigal of the French Basketball Federation in 2002-03. She also played with SCAB 63 of the French Basketball Federation, in addition to a season with the Colorado Chill of the National Women's Basketball League.

Walseth was inducted into the Bloomington Jefferson (Minn.) High School Hall of Fame as part of the inaugural class in the fall of 2006. Also part of the inaugural class were NHL players Ben Clymer and Mark Parrish and former Charlotte Hornet Kevin Lynch.

Walseth earned her bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism with a minor in movement science from Penn State in 2002.