Penn State women’s basketball (3-1) earned another comeback win against Princeton, forcing overtime and eventually clawing out a 79-71 victory in the Bryce Jordan Center.

The Tigers (1-3) led by as many as nine in the fourth quarter, but the Lady Lions scored on their final four trips down the floor to force the extra frame. 

How It Happened

It was a back-and-forth battle throughout –with neither team breaking into a double-digit lead during regulation.

After heading into halftime with a 24-21 advantage, the Lady Lions let Princeton take the momentum thanks to the perimeter presence of Gabrielle Rush. The freshman guard buried four from three-point range to help the Tigers take an eight-point lead with just a quarter to play.

Amari Carter’s clutch threes, along with an overall solid defensive performance from the team, kept Penn State in the game.

Back-to-back threes for Amari Carter#BringTheRoar pic.twitter.com/hgbe34CFTS

— Penn State Women's Basketball (@PennStateWBB) November 18, 2018

Princeton led 61-54 with 2:30 to go, but the Lady Lions found their way to the line on multiple occasions down the stretch and allowed just a pair of points from the Tigers in that time frame.

After forcing a turnover with 16 seconds to go down by two, Penn State inbounded the ball to Teniya Page — who scored 23 points in the game — and ran a play the put the ball in the hands of an open Siyeh Frazier, allowing her an open trip to the hoop where she was fouled. The junior guard buried both free throws to force overtime.

In the extra period, Penn State controlled. The Lady Lions benefitted from Sydney Jordan — who had a double double for Princeton — fouling out prior to overtime.

Carter once again set the pace with back-to-back threes, helping her finish with 17 points, to open up a lead, with Page closing the game out down the stretch as the Lady Lions earned an impressive 79-71 win against a consistent NCAA Tournament team.

Takeaways

• Since taking over in 2007, Coquese Washington now has 200 wins as head coach of the Lady Lions. What a better way to do it with a fantastic play call to tie the game at the end of the fourth — not forcing the star Page to take a contested look and instead finding what would have been an easy layup for Frazier if she wasn’t fouled on the drive. 
• This was Penn State’s best defensive performance so far this season. It wasn’t just a complete shooting collapse like Fordham had against the Lady Lions. They just truly made it difficult on the Tigers to find good shooting opportunities and it saved the game down the stretch.
• Through four games, Alisia Smith’s proven to be more than capable of being a low post starter. For all the concerns about Penn State’s lack of front court experience, Smith’s double double effort — 16 points, 11 rebounds — show the team has something special with the sophomore.

What’s Next

Penn State plays North Dakota (1-2) on Wednesday. Tipoff in the Bryce Jordan Center is at 2 p.m. and the game can be streamed on BTN Plus.