Penn State women’s basketball (7-8, 1-3 Big Ten) defeated Michigan State (8-7, 2-2 Big Ten) 86-73 Thursday night at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Kamaria McDaniel led the Lady Lions in points (24), rebounds (11), and assists (9) en route to powering the team to its first win in Big Ten play.

How It Happened

The Lady Lions’ starters featured guards Makenna Marisa, Siyeh Frazier, and Kamaria McDaniel and forwards Anna Camden and Alisia Smith.

Both teams got off to a hot start Thursday evening and competed in back-and-forth action to begin the game. Penn State took its first lead five minutes into the first quarter thanks to two made free throws from McDaniel.

The Lady Lions and Spartans then went scoreless for nearly an entire minute before Michigan State cut its deficit to 15-14 after making a free throw. Marisa responded nearly a minute later with a smooth layup to give Penn State a 17-14 lead.

With little time left in the first quarter, the Spartans hit a clutch three-pointer to tie the game at 17-17 before the Lady Lions responded with a three-ball from McDaniel and back-to-back layups from Shay Hagans and Marisa. Penn State ended the quarter leading 24-19 thanks to that 7-0 run.

Michigan State began the second frame on a 4-0 run before Penn State ripped back-to-back-to-back layups to increase its lead to 33-25. The Lady Lions shot 5-of-5 to close out the quarter and went to the locker room holding a 47-36 lead over the Spartans.

The Spartans opened the second half with a 7-0 scoring run to cut their deficit to 47-43, forcing Penn State head coach Carolyn Kieger to burn a timeout. McDaniel ended the Lady Lions’ scoring drought with a three-pointer to expand her team’s advantage to 50-45.

Similar to the beginning of the game, both teams engaged in back-and-forth action throughout the third frame. A clutch three-pointer from Frazier and two free throws from McDaniel gave the Lady Lions a 61-57 lead entering the fourth quarter.

Penn State ran away with the game in the fourth quarter and quite literally never looked back. The Lady Lions expanded their lead with two separate 7-0 runs on the way to defeat Michigan State 86-73.

Takeaways

• What a game from McDaniel! The junior guard tallied 24 points, 11 rebounds, and nine assists in Thursday’s contest in yet another impressive outing. McDaniel entered the game as the Big Ten’s third-leading scorer and certainly didn’t disappoint as she put the team on her back to pick up its first conference win.
• The Lady Lions looked much-improved from the line against Michigan State. Kieger’s squad shot 17-of-18 on free throw attempts, which helped power Penn State’s offense throughout the entire game. Getting to the line is crucial to winning, but capitalizing on each and every attempt is arguably even more so.
• It won’t show up in the stat sheets necessarily, but Penn State’s passing game was on fire against the Spartans. The Lady Lions had no problem moving the ball up and down the court and excelled in transition and on fast breaks. I mean, just look at this pass. What a beaut! Penn State’s offense will only continue to develop if it can remain focused on passing the ball cleanly and efficiently.

What’s Next?

The Lady Lions will take a few days off before traveling to Columbus on Sunday, January 12 to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. that afternoon.