Penn State women’s basketball (7-9, 1-4 Big Ten) fell to Ohio State (10-6, 3-2 Big Ten) 80-70 Sunday afternoon in Columbus. It was the Buckeyes’ 10th straight victory over the Lady Lions.

Siyeh Frazier and Kamaria McDaniel each scored a team-high 22 points in the loss, but their efforts weren’t enough to earn Penn State’s second conference win.

How It Happened

Penn State’s starting lineup consisted of forward Alisia Smith and guards Siyeh Frazier, Kamaria McDaniel, Makenna Marisa, and Shay Hagans.

Frazier got things started for the Lady Lions with an easy pull-up jumper out of the gate to give her team a 2-0 lead. McDaniel followed by capitalizing on an Ohio State turnover and sinking a jumper of her own. Nearly two minutes later, the Buckeyes tied Penn State 4-4 with a free throw.

Penn State and Ohio State traded back-to-back three-pointers, allowing the Lady Lions to cling to a 9-7 lead late in the first quarter. The Buckeyes didn’t back down, though, and later hit another three to tie the game 13-13. A pair of free throws from Smith gave the Lady Lions a 15-13 advantage at the end of the first frame.

Frazier completed a layup in transition to open the second quarter for Penn State, but back-to-back buckets from the Buckeyes tied things up at 17 apiece. From there, Ohio State expanded its lead with a three-point shot, layup, and free throw to go up 23-17. Marisa responded with a layup, but the Buckeyes answered back with another three to go up 26-19.

The Lady Lions embarked on a 5-0 run to close the gap between the two teams, but Ohio State responded with another three-pointer and entered the locker room with a 33-26 lead at halftime.

Penn State came out swinging in the second half as Frazier immediately sunk a three to open scoring. McDaniel followed that up with two layups to cut Ohio State’s advantage to two points.

K-Mac Siyeh for to open the second half! #IgniteThePRIDE pic.twitter.com/a36N1hyf8Q

— Penn State Women's Basketball (@PennStateWBB) January 12, 2020

The Buckeyes ripped a 5-0 run out of a media timeout to pad their lead once again, this time going up 40-33. Later on, both teams traded three-pointers once again, which forced Carolyn Kieger to call timeout as her team trailed 47-42. Right on schedule, the Buckeyes drained back-to-back layups out of the break.

After another scoring run, this time 11-0, Ohio State took a 66-50 lead into the fourth quarter.

Penn State outscored Ohio State 12-4 in the final quarter’s first six minutes, cutting the Lady Lions’ deficit to 70-62 with 3:56 remaining. The Buckeyes put the pedal to the metal from there out, though, and cruised to an 80-70 victory over Penn State.

Takeaways

• The Lady Lions continue to dominate from the line, and it’s helping to keep a somewhat-stagnant offense running. Penn State shot just 5-for-16 in the first quarter but went 4-for-4 from the line, which allowed it to pull ahead of Ohio State by the end of the first frame. The team entered today’s matchup ranked No. 7 in the country in made free throws (241) and No. 14 in attempted free throws (330), the former of which leads the Big Ten.
• It was truly a tale of two halves when it comes to Penn State’s three-point shooting. The Lady Lions went 2-for-10 from beyond the arc in the first half but cleaning things up and shot 3-for-4 from beyond in the second half. 5-for-14 isn’t too bad, but a lack of big-time three-point plays in the first half dug Penn State into a hole it really couldn’t climb out of.
• This is now the 10th straight time the Lady Lions have fallen to the Buckeyes. The last time Penn State defeated Ohio State was February 9, 2014, when the team took down its conference rival 74-54 on the road.
• Each of Penn State’s starters recorded a negative +/- rating in today’s game. McDaniel led the charge with -13, while Marisa (-8), Hagans (-8), Smith (-8), and Frazier (-7) followed. This statistic isn’t an end-all-be-all by any stretch, but the rating says a lot about a team’s chemistry and this team’s lack of it. The Lady Lions will need to continue gelling together as a cohesive unit to be competitive in Big Ten play moving forward.

What’s Next?

The Lady Lions will return home to the Bryce Jordan Center on Thursday, January 16 to take on Rutgers. Tipoff against the Scarlet Knights is set for 7 p.m.