Penn State women’s basketball (11-15, 4-11 Big Ten) snapped its six-game losing streak Thursday night, winning a close battle against the tournament-bubble Purdue Boilermakers (17-12, 8-8 Big Ten), 72-61.

Purdue trailed the Lady Lions for all but eight seconds throughout the entire game, pleasantly surprising the Happy Valley crowd. Amari Carter and Siyeh Frazier, who also posted her career high, tallied game highs with 18 points each.

How It Happened

The Lady Lions, playing without Teniya Page and Alisia Smith, were able to hold their own against Purdue. The defense forced a total of 10 turnovers in the first half, including four in the span of five minutes, allowing the team to take a 35-28 lead over the Boilermakers heading into the locker room at halftime.

Penn State kept up the intensity in the second half, behind the strong, double-digit performances of Siyeh Frazier, Jaida Travascio-Green, Amari Carter, and Kamaria McDaniel.

Purdue managed to battle back to within four points with roughly eight minutes to go in the fourth quarter. However, the Lady Lions took back control after an impressive effort from the field — shooting 71 percent in that final quarter compared to Purdue’s 29 percent.

As a whole, Penn State had a dominant three-point performance, shooting 43 percent from the three-point line compared to Purdue’s 28 percent.

The Boilermakers always hung around, but couldn’t work past the Lady Lions, who tucked the game away with key buckets down the stretch and eased out the victory from the line, 72-61.

Takeaways

• For once, the Lady Lions were able to maintain a lead down the stretch. Whenever Purdue would go on a run, Penn State always seemed to have a response. This explains why the Lady Lions led for more than thirty eight minutes during the entire game.
• With some of Penn State’s star players on the sidelines, Siyeh Frazier certainly stepped up, surpassing her career-high total in points and nearly racking up a double-double. She finished the game with 18 points, nine rebounds, and four assists. Teammate Amari Carter also finished with eighteen points, and Jaida Travascio-Green followed closely with fourteen. Overall, it was a team effort and several players contributed on both sides of the ball.
• Getting to the free-throw line was crucial for Penn State, and the players definitely took advantage of this, shooting a consistent 72 percent from the line.

What’s Next

The Lady Lions travel to Champaign to face Illinois this Sunday. Tipoff is at 7 p.m and will be aired live on the Big Ten Network.