Penn State women’s basketball (9-4, 0-2 Big Ten) was blown out by Minnesota (13-1, 1-1 Big Ten) on Saturday afternoon.

The Lady Lions struggled mightily to get anything going on the offensive end all day and trailed by as many as 44 points during the game. Only Gabby Elliott finished with double-digit points in the loss.

How It Happened

Both teams started with turnovers on their first possessions of the game, but Minnesota was first on the board after Tori McKinney earned a trip to the line, making both free throws. The Golden Gophers continued to find offensive success early on as McKinney knocked down a jumper from beyond the arch and Amaya Battle got a turnaround jumper to fall, making it a 7-0 ball game.

Alli Campbell put the Lady Lions on the board with a long two-point jump shot, but Minnesota’s Annika Stewart answered with a layup to make it 11-2. Penn State began to attack the basket, as Jayla Oden and Grace Hall earned trips to the line to lessen the 11-5 deficit.

After Merkle blocked a shot in the paint, Morriah Murray turned over the ball back to Minnesota. Hall got a mid-range shot to fall, but Minnesota wasn’t giving Penn State a chance to catch up as Sophie Hart converted an and-one opportunity under the basket, moving the score to 18-7. Stewart and Battle extended the lead to 24-9 with a bucket each as the first quarter closed.

McKinney buried another three to begin the second quarter before a brutal 10-second violation by Oden gave the ball right back to Minnesota, which led 27-9. Campbell blew by her defender on the perimeter and then dished out to Gabby Elliott, who drained the mid-range jumper to make it a 27-11 game. McKinney sunk another three-pointer to extend the Golden Gophers 30-11 lead.

Mallory Heyer got a late Christmas gift from the basketball gods, as her three-point attempt rattled in and out of the basket three times and then fell in to put the Golden Gophers up 37-11. Back-to-back jumpers from Hall and Campbell paired up with a made free throw from Talayah Walker moved the score to 42-16.

In the final moments of the first half, Oden was sent to the line and made both free throws to make it 44-18 at halftime.

As the third quarter started, McKinney picked up right where she left off. She navigated her way into the paint and dropped in a layup. Elliott scored a quick four points for Penn State on back-to-back layups, but Grace Grocholski drained a wide-open three as the Lady Lion defense couldn’t close out fast enough. The 54-22 gap simply was not shrinking for the Lady Lions.

Battle got to her spot with ease and knocked down a pretty-looking mid-range jump shot to extend the 61-26 lead for Minnesota. After a media timeout, Elliott knocked in the Lady Lions’ first three-pointer of the day. McKinney continued her strong offensive night, making both shots at the stripe, making it 65-29.

Murray and Elliott made shots as the clock dwindled down in the third quarter, but Battle knocked down another jumper as time expired to put the score at 69-34 in favor of Minnesota.

McKinney forced a switch onto Merkle, blowing by her on the baseline and dropping in a reverse layup to extend Minnesota’s 78-38 lead.

With five minutes to play in the fourth quarter, Minnesota began to put the reserves in the game up by 40. Elliott fought through traffic to get an and-one opportunity to fall for Penn State, however, she couldn’t make the free throw attempt. A layup from Niamya Holloway gave Minnesota its largest lead of the night with a 44-point cushion.

Shaelyn Steele picked the pocket of Kennedy Klick and ran it back for an easy fast break layup with 0:33 left in the ball game. Steele then grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back up for a second-chance bucket on the final Penn State possession.

Takeaways

• Minnesota took Merkle out of the game by denying her the ball in the post with frequent double teams, heavily crippling Penn State’s offense. The Golden Gophers shrunk the floor and dared Penn State to beat them another way. Merkle was held scoreless and had just one shot attempt.
• Penn State couldn’t get it going from beyond the arch, shooting 4-of-17 from three. Murray, Penn State’s best three-point shooter, went 0-4 from beyond the arch.
• Turnovers once again haunted Penn State. The Lady Lions committed 24 on the day and forced just 12. The constant disruption of the offense via turnovers made it hard to get anything going for the Lady Lions.

What’s Next?

The Lady Lions will kick the New Year off when they return home to the Bryce Jordan Center for a matchup against Iowa at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, January 1. Folks can tune into the game on the Big Ten Network.