Penn State women’s basketball (6-5) dominated Sacred Heart (3-8) in an 88-65 victory Sunday afternoon at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Five players — Siyeh Frazier (17), Kamaria McDaniel (16), Makenna Marisa (13), Alisia Smith (11), and Shay Hagans (11) — tallied double-digit point totals in the victory to pull the Lady Lions over .500.

How It Happened

Head coach Carolyn Kieger’s starting lineup featured guards Siyeh Frazier, Kamaria McDaniel, and Makenna Marisa, as well as forwards Alisia Smith and Lauren Ebo.

Sunday’s contest began with turnovers from each team in the paint before Frazier opened scoring with an easy layup. McDaniel expanded Penn State’s lead by draining two shots from the line after she was fouled on a fast break. She then extended the Lady Lions’ run to 7-0 with a textbook three from beyond the arc.

SPLASH #IgniteThePRIDE pic.twitter.com/S8GJbdfIWT

— Penn State Women's Basketball (@PennStateWBB) December 22, 2019

Additional layups from Marisa and sophomore forward Bexley Wallace, the latter of which included an and-one for an additional point, expanded the Lady Lions’ lead to 12-0. Frazier hit an easy jumper and a three-pointer to go up 17-0, prompting Sacred Heart to use its first timeout with 4:29 to go in the first quarter.

The Pioneers finally got onto the board with a layup and jumper near the end of the first frame to cut their deficit to 13 points. That gap would only grow, however, as Penn State ended up leading Sacred Heart 24-7 at the end of the quarter.

Back-and-forth layups and three-pointers from both teams kept Penn State comfortably ahead of Sacred Heart in the second quarter, as the Nittany Lions still led by 17 with 6:40 to go in the second quarter. The Pioneers converted a layup on a fast break to cut Penn State’s advantage to 33-20 entering a media timeout.

Back-to-back layups from Mya Bembry and Hagans put the Lady Lions up 40-20 — their largest lead of the game so far. Penn State would then take a 46-25 lead heading into the locker room at the end of the quarter.

Penn State continued its domination over Sacred Heart when Lauren Ebo finally got onto the board in the second half with a layup to put her team up 56-28. The Lady Lions shot 75% from beyond the arc to maintain their lead and hold onto a 68-40 advantage entering the fourth quarter.

The Lady Lions played some ugly ball in the fourth quarter, but it didn’t really matter thanks to their monstrous lead. Penn State scored 20 points on 7-of-21 shooting (1-of-5 from beyond the arc) to close out the victory and close out non-conference play with an 88-65 victory over the Pioneers.

Takeaways

• Jumping out to an early lead was truly the key to Penn State’s victory today. The Lady Lions put up 17 unanswered to begin Sunday’s matchup and kept Sacred Heart at bay thanks to limiting the Pioneers to 0-11 shooting entering the first timeout.
• Today’s victory was the product of all-around teamwork, as five players — Siyeh Frazier (17), Kamaria McDaniel (16), Makenna Marisa (13), Alisia Smith (11), and Shay Hagans (11) — found themselves in double-digits by the time the clock ran out.
• Where’s Ebo been? The sophomore forward began the season averaging 11.6 points per game but has posted 5.33 per game since then. Penn State will need more out of her to remain successful and keep her in the starting lineup for the remainder of the season.
• The Lady Lions were absolutely lethal from beyond the arc against the Pioneers. They shot 8-of-16 from three, which helped them construct an early lead and maintain it throughout the contest. They lacked physicality in the paint, but it doesn’t really matter if you’re knocking down plenty of shots from downtown.

What’s Next?

The Lady Lions will rest up over the holidays before opening Big Ten play against Minnesota at 4 p.m. on Saturday, December 28 at the BJC. The conference matchup will be broadcast on BTN+.