Despite trailing by as many as nine points early in the first half, the #8 Lady Lions came back with a fight and beat out the Michigan State Spartans, 71-56, Sunday afternoon at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Led by senior guard Alex Bentley, who had a game-high 24 points, Penn State recorded their third 20-win season in a row and 18th straight win at home in the Bryce Jordan Center.

Two other Lady Lions met Bentley in double digits when senior Nikki Greene tallied 13 and junior Maggie Lucas went 100% from the free throw line and scored 19 points.

After a 20-11 MSU lead, the Lady Lions ended the first half on a 21-7 run and led 32-27 as the packed BJC took a collective sigh of relief.

Once the second half started, Penn State started to pull away and gave the Spartans few opportunities to come back. They went 56% from the field and held the Spartans to just 36.7%.

In all, the Lady Lions grabbed 17 steals, including a career-high 3 steals from sophomore Tori Waldner, and 4 each from Bentley, senior Mia Nickson, and redshirt junior Dara Taylor.

The #8 Lady Lions (20-3, 10-1) take on Iowa (16-8, 5-5) on Thursday night in Iowa City at 8 p.m.