Penn State women’s basketball (8-6, 1-2 Big Ten) used a strong defensive performance to earn a win at home over Wisconsin, 71-64.

Despite a late charge to keep the game within reach, the Badgers (10-5, 1-2 Big Ten) poor shooting on the night wasn’t enough to overcome Teniya Page’s fourth 20+ scoring effort in the last five games.

How It Happened

The first half was a tale of runs. The Lady Lions opened up an 11-3 lead out of the gate and held Wisconsin without a field goal in the final five minutes of the second quarter to finish on a 13-1 run, but everything in between went the Badgers way to keep them in the game.

Amari Carter broke into double figures before the break to lead all scorers with 10 points and hand Penn State a 36-31 halftime lead.

Heading into the final quarter with a 49-47 lead, the Lady Lions locked down defensively. Allowing just one basket in the period before the final media timeout, Penn State opened up its lead to nine with just a few minutes to play.

Wisconsin wouldn’t go away though, getting within four points of Penn State thanks to a couple of trips to the foul line and a clutch three-pointer from Suzanne Gilreath.

With four players finishing in double figures — Page (23), Carter (13), Kamaria McDaniel (11), and Siyeh Frazier (10) — the Lady Lions hit their foul shots down the stretch and managed to close out the Badgers for a 71-64 win.

Takeaways

• The play of the game happened at halftime.

• Penn State opened up its gaps in the game thanks to its defense. With the offense shooting just 37 percent from the field and not hitting a field goal in the final five minutes, the Lady Lions forced 16 turnovers — creating 17 points — and held the Badgers to an even worse 34 percent shooting percentage.
• Considering midway through the fourth quarter that Penn State was just 3-9 from the foul line, Penn State’s ability to hit nearly all of its foul shots in the final minutes — including Page’s 10-10 effort in that frame — can’t be overlooked in how it managed hold on for the win.

What’s Next

The Lady Lions head to New Jersey to take on Rutgers (9-3, 2-0 Big Ten) on Sunday. Tipoff is at 4 p.m. inside the RAC and the game will stream live on BTN Plus.