It’s been nearly seven seasons since Penn State women’s basketball experienced a winning season. Carolyn Kieger’s been the head coach of the Lady Lions for five of those seasons.

While winning has been hard to come by in the Bryce Jordan Center recently, Kieger seems to be fulfilling her promise to bring the program back.

When Kieger signed on to be Penn State’s head coach, the Lady Lions were coming off a 12-18 season and had parted ways with Coquese Washington, who had taken the Lady Lions to four NCAA Tournaments in 12 seasons but slid off the national radar in the waning years of her tenure. Instead of improving, Penn State got worse in Kieger’s first season, finishing 7-23 as it lost 15 straight games to finish the 2019-20 season.

The next season, Kieger’s team got better, finishing 9-15. Then, Penn State won 11 games, and then 14 games. Now, the Lady Lions have won 13 games with 11 more regular-season games to come. In the next week, Kieger can once again break her personal Penn State win record and push her team closer to the winning record it’s chased for seven seasons.

Kieger promised she’d annually compete for national titles at Penn State. It’s hard to imagine the Lady Lions making their way to a Final Four in 2024, but the goal of an NCAA Tournament that seemed distant just one year ago now seems realistic.

It’s been a slog to get to this point. Penn State’s rostered 41 different players over Kieger’s tenure, but now, it may have the 12 that can finally push it to the next level.

“I’m just so proud that our players are starting to feel the success of all their hard work the last four years,” Kieger said. “I’m just trying to enjoy the moment game by game and couldn’t be more excited for my players to be honest.”

At the most senior level, Penn State has Makenna Marisa, set to score her 2,000th point around the same time Kieger will get her 15th win. Marisa’s been with Penn State, and Kieger, for the long haul. For every losing season Kieger’s had at the school, Marisa’s been there as well. This year, the guard might finally go out with more wins than losses.

For the entirety of this season and last, Marisa had help from Shay Ciezki and Leilani Kapinus. The sophomore and junior guards are both very good at one job: three-point shooting and steals. In 2023, they’ve continued to thrive in those areas while helping their team on the other side of the court.

Penn State also has six new additions this season via the transfer portal. Those like former Drexel players Moriah Murray and Kylie Lavelle have been huge off the bench. Across the whole season, none have been more critical than Tay Valladay, who doesn’t always get her flowers but has been consistently improving as the season rolls on.

And now, Kieger finally has her star. With Ashley Owusu’s availability for the team, the NCAA Tournament doesn’t seem to be as much of a hope as it is a destination for the team. In just three games for the Lady Lions, Owusu’s been the best player on the floor.

Owusu’s worked with Ciezki, Kapinus, and the rest of the team. She brings veteran experience from playing at some of women’s college basketball’s highest levels, and it’s showing already.

Kieger’s set milestone for this season isn’t to get her Lady Lions to hoist a national title, but it’s to make history. She’s consistently said her team was trying to make it to March, even when it was clear her teams weren’t good enough. This year, she’s keeping the same tone and just might keep those promises.

“From the beginning of the year, we said we believe we could be a Sweet Sixteen or beyond team,” Kieger said. “I think now that we’re fully healthy that definitely is in the back of our minds of what we’re trying to do.”

But the NCAA Tournament is still in the not-so-distant future. For Kieger to break her Penn State win total, the Lady Lions have to defeat Northwestern on Thursday night and do the same to Maryland at home on Sunday afternoon. With a 40-point victory over Northwestern from earlier in the season and an Owusu revenge game against her former team tucked in the Lady Lions’ back pocket, Kieger has every chance to be two steps closer to a winning season within a week.