Penn State women’s basketball began its season inside the historic Rec Hall on Monday, as the Lady Lions (1-0) defeated the Bucknell Bison (0-1) 83-55 in their season opener for the third consecutive season.

It was an all-around performance for Penn State as it forced turnovers and kept the ball moving around on offense. The stars showed out as Kiyomi McMiller and Gracie Merkle made their mark on the court offensively, but also on the defensive end in the victory.

How It Happened

The season debut started with a well-executed pick-and-roll from the exciting transfer Kiyomi McMiller to Penn State’s standout center, Gracie Merkle. McMiller showcased speed to work around a defender and then dished it to Merkle as the defense collapsed on her. McMiller’s playmaking ability and speed were already on display in the first play of the game.

With 8:30 to go in the first quarter, McMiller picked off a pass by Tuana Coskun and dribbled it into a transition pull-up for her first points as a Lady Lion to give Penn State an early 6-2 lead.

Penn State came out with an aggressive start defensively, running a half-court press. Bucknell’s Elana Weisman worked her way inside to connect on a tough bucket through contact, but could not make her free throw to convert the and-one.

With 5:30 to go, Amiya Evans showed off her bag work, hitting a defender with a shake and bake to get an open look under the rim, giving Penn State a 13-9 lead.

With the shot clock winding down, Coskun found her teammate, Reese Zemetis, for an open three, her fifth point in the opening six minutes of the game. Bucknell moved the ball around well to start, with four of their first five buckets coming off an assist.

Quickly after, Zemetis hit her second three of the game to tie the game up at 15, with under four minutes to go in the first quarter.

But the Bison weren’t done yet as Isabella Casey cashed in on another Bucknell three-pointer to get their first lead of the game, 18-17.

McMiller made her presence felt early in this game as she forced her second turnover of the game, tipping the ball out of Anna Kunzwiler’s hands, resulting in a Merkle bucket at the rim, her eighth point of the game.

Soon after, with just a minute to go, McMiller called an iso and hit her defender with a euro-step to get Penn State a 23-21 lead.

The Lady Lions closed out the first quarter by forcing three turnovers, which led to a 6-0 run in the final two minutes to hold onto their lead.

The Lady Lions struggled to get their threes to fall in the first, shooting 1-6, but they were able to compete with their strong defense, scoring six points off of turnovers in the first quarter, opposed to Bucknell’s zero.

Bucknell started the second quarter off with an assist from Kaila Richards, who fired a pass through the lane to Isabella Casey for a layup to tie the game.

The Lady Lions fired back with a Gracie Merkle bucket as she mean-mugged a defender through contact, sending her to the line to convert the and-one. Merkle started the game off strong, shooting 5-6 from the field to get 11 points.

The Lady Lions continued to create on fastbreaks, going on an 8-0 run four minutes into the quarter and holding the Bison to over a three-minute scoring drought.

For Bucknell, it didn’t end there as the turnovers continued to pour on. They turned the ball over four times in three minutes as Penn State took advantage and claimed a demanding 31-23 lead in Rec Hall.

With five minutes to go in the half, McMiller once again found an open teammate beyond the arc, Vitori Santana, to give Penn State an eleven-point lead.

The Bison retaliated with a much-needed bucket from Reese Zemetis to cut the Lady Lions’ lead to 36-27.

With 2:30 to go, Elana Houghton took a hard hit in the paint from Rachael Okokoh to get the Bison going on a 5-0 run.

Then, McMiller showed off her playmaking ability as she worked her way across the baseline to find Amiya Evans for a mid-range jumper to end the Bucknell run before the half.

With just over a second to go in the half, Moriah Murray received an inbound pass from Nyla McFadden and let a logo three fly, which to the crowd’s surprise, banked in to give the Lady Lions a 43-31 lead at halftime.

To start off the second half, the Bison and Lady Lions exchanged buckets as they both created open looks for their teammates, cutting through the lane.

The dynamic duo of McMiller and Markle continued to shine as McMiller forced a double team and found a cutting Markle at the rim to give Penn State a 44-33 lead.

Bucknell answered with back-to-back threes from Elaina Weisman and Tuana Coskun to cut the lead to 44-39.

But Merkle ended the Bucknell run, converting another three-point play as she was fouled on a contested look underneath the rim. Merkle scored her 20th point of the game in a very efficient showing as she shot 90 percent from the field two minutes into the second half.

Coming out of a media timeout, McMiller showed off her mid-range game as she sized up a defender to nail her 15th point of the game with six minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Bucknell soon after capitalized on a Merkle missed free throw by pushing on a fast break to get Isabella Casey’s 12th point of the game. The Lady Lions’ lead was cut to 54-42.

With two minutes to go in the quarter, the Lady Lions had their highlight play of the night as Shayla Smith ripped a ball out of Tuana Coskun’s hands and delivered a no-look pass to McMiller for the high-arcing floater. The Penn State lead expanded to 56-42.

One minute remained as freshman guard Viktoria Ranisavljevic tossed up a beautiful pass over multiple defenders’ heads to find Merkle down low for yet another bucket in the paint. The freshman looked poised and had a strong performance defensively, including cleaning up the glass.

Penn State ended the third quarter with a Shayla Smith jumper to advance its lead to 62-46.

The strong defensive night for Penn State continued as Murray forced another turnover, and on the other end, McMiller showed off the moves to get through the Bucknell defense.

McMiller began to take over early in the fourth as she hit her defender with a crossover to create a wide-open layup at the rim, her 23rd point of the night to give Penn State a 68-46 lead.

Guess whose name I’m about to say again! Seven minutes remained as McMiller called for another iso, hitting her defender with a pump fake on a drive to the rim to get herself a wide-open look, feet away from the basket.

Bucknell ended a scoring drought as Elana Weisman knocked down her second three of the game with under five minutes left to play. Penn State led 71-53.

With just over four minutes left, freshman center Rachael Okokoh scored her first bucket down low on a drive as a Lady Lion in her first few minutes of action.

The Penn State freshmen began to show out as Shayla Smith scored her fourth point of the game on a shot from the elbow to grow the Penn State lead 75-53.

With under a minute left, Amiya Evans forced a turnover and kicked it to Okokoh on the fastbreak, who took a hard foul and converted the bucket to get the crowd on their feet before the final buzzer.

Penn State then dribbled the clock out in a dominant season debut for the Lady Lions, winning 83-55 inside Rec Hall.

Takeaways

• The Kiyomi McMiller hype is real, as she scored 27 points along with six rebounds and six assists in 38 minutes of action.
• The Lady Lions’ aggressive defense resulted in 21 turnovers and 27 points off of turnovers, which allowed them to dictate the game.

What’s Next

The Lady Lions will face off against the Cincinnati Bearcats on Friday, November 7, at Rec Hall.