Penn State women’s basketball (8-16, 1-12 Big Ten) lost to No. 12 Michigan State (19-4, 8-4, Big Ten) 81-68 at Rec Hall.

The Lady Lions led 45-28 at one point, blowing the 16-point first-half lead after going through a near eight-minute scoring drought in the third quarter. Kiyomi McMiller was responsible for 37 of Penn State’s points and shot 16-33 from the field.

How It Happened

The Lady Lions were without Gracie Merkle, rolling out a small starting lineup consisting of Moriah Murray, Viktoria Ranisavljevic, Tea Cleante, Kiyomi McMiller, and Amiya Evans.

After an offensive rebound on the first possession for Michigan State, Jalyn Brown drilled a deep two. McMiler responded with sauce on the other end, going behind her back multiple times before knocking down a step back three from the wing.

Jordan Ode drove the basket, but Evans was there to reject it out of bounds. Off the inbound, Grace VanSlooten bodied her way inside for the deuce. On the other end, Evans grabbed an offensive rebound and dished it out to Murray at the top of the key, knocking down the 3-pointer.

On defense, McMiller deflected a pass and turned it into a pull-up jumper, but Ines Sotelo responded with a three for Michigan State, and Penn State held an early 8-7 lead.

VanSlooten and Cleante exchanged buckets, and then McMiller drew the offensive foul on Brown. Out of the media timeout, McMiller connected on back-to-back shots, first hitting a layup and then pulling up from deep and connecting.

Tea Cleante scored inside for the Nittany Lions, and after McMiller hit the cutting Maggie Mendelson to put Penn State up 19-9, the Spartans were forced to call a timeout.

After yet another Michigan State miss, Cleante forced herself to the line where she split the pair with 3:38 to go in the first quarter. The Spartans opened the game one-for-six from deep.

A four-minute Michigan State scoring drought finally ended when Kennedy Blair hit the free-throw line jumper. It was immediately matched by McMiller inside, scoring her 11th and 12th points on a spinning layup through the lane.

On the next offensive possession, McMiller pulled up from mid-range and hit, giving Penn State a 13-point first-quarter lead. Ranisavljevic added to that lead with a pair of free throws. Both teams exchanged buckets on their final possessions, and Penn State ended the first quarter on a 20-4 run.

The Spartans opened the second quarter with six unanswered points, forcing head coach Carolyn Kieger to call a timeout. Michigan State tried to trap McMiller near halfcourt, but she stayed calm and found the open Cleante in the corner. Cleante hit the with open Murray inside for two points. It was one-upped by Emma Shumate of Michigan State, who drained a 3-pointer to make it a 30-22 game.

Ranisavljevic connected from beyond the arc, and after two more buckets inside from Michigan State, Evans was called for the offensive foul. Michigan State cut into the deficit after VanSlooten went one-and-one at the line.

Mendelson also split a pair at the line for Penn State, and then a Michigan State travel resulted in two points for Nyla McFadden. Cleante pushed the lead back up to double-digits after drilling a three-pointer from wing. Free throws for Michigan State momentarily brought the lead down to ten, but Cleante found Mendelson wide open in the paint for the deuce.

With under 2:14 to play in the first half, McFadden hit two free throws at the line. Brown looked to answer for Michigan State, but travelled on her way to the basketball for her fourth turnover of the half. McMiller put Penn State up 16 — its biggest lead of the game — after hitting a pair of free throws. Michigan State scored four unanswered points to end the half, sending the teams to the locker room with Penn State up 45-33.

The Lady Lions opened the second half with possession, and Ranisavljevic found McMiller inside for two. Blair got the bucket to go for Michigan State on the other end, and then both teams exchanged turnovers.

VanSlooten cut the Penn State lead to 10, but good perimeter ball movement led to a wide-open McMiller three, and she hit. Brown was fouled and split her pair at the line, and then McMiller drove under the basket and finished the reverse layup, bringing her game total to 25.

Miscommunication between Murray and McMiller led to a turnover and a basket for Michigan State’s Blair. Out of the third quarter media timeout, Amy Terrian connected from range for Michigan State, cutting the lead to nine. Terrian hadn’t seen the floor all game until after the timeout.

McMiller looked to drive inside but had the ball stripped, and the turnover led to a 2-on-1 and a basket for the Spartans. Brown went down hard after the bucket, and she was sent back to the locker room.

Murray was called for the offensive foul with 2:50 remaining in the third quarter. Terrian sank her second three-pointer, McMiller was unable to get her layup to fall, and then Terrian hit her third three-pointer in as many minutes to silence Rec Hall, cutting the Lady Lion lead to one at 52-21.

Out of the timeout, McMiller and Terrian exchanged missed 3-pointers. A McMiller travel gave the Spartans the ball back with a chance to take the lead, but VanSlooten’s shot was off. Cleante airballed a 3-pointer for Penn State, but Ranisavljevic secured the offensive rebound and earned herself two free throws.

Ranisavljevic uncharacteristically missed both free throws, and it led to an and-one for VanSlooten. The free throw was good, and Michigan State ended the third quarter with a 54-52 lead.

VanSlooten added to the Spartans’ lead with back-to-back buckets, but Cleante stripped Blair for the fast break layup. The lead grew to four when Rashanda Jones hit two free throws. McMiller tried to calm the storm and responded for the Nittany Lions, but a 3-pointer from Jones and a fast break layup for Blair brought the Michigan State lead to seven.

McMiller once again answered for Penn State, getting her shot to fall, but Blair answered again for the Spartans. McMiller missed her initial attempt, but got the rebound and put it back up for two, cutting the Michigan State lead to 67-62.

Brown, back from the locker room, hit yet another 3-pointer for Michigan State. On the other end, Murray got her last-second shot to go as the shot clock expired. Brown answered inside for the Spartans and gave a little flex to her bench.

McMiller was fouled on her way up, but she missed both free-throw attempts with 3:20 to play in regulation. Jones scored under the basket and drew the foul on Ranisavljevic. She hit the free throw, and Michigan State’s lead grew to 11.

It only got worse from there, and the Spartans closed things out at Rec Hall, securing the 81-68 lead.

Takeaways

• Michigan State had two seperate four-plus minute droughts without scoring a basket, but it didn’t matter because Penn State went almost eight minutes without scoring a point to end the third quarter, and MichiganState took that momentum and ran with it until the buzzer.
• McMiller was lethal in the first quarter, scoring 16 points on 7-for-8 shooting and a perfect 2-for-2 from beyond the arc, but in the second half, she was not as effective. She shot 9-19 from the field in the second half but missed two crucial free throws that sealed the game. McZMiller finished the game with a career-high 37 points.
• Terrain was the difference. She didn’t see the floor until after the third quarter media timeout, and to that point, Michigan State had shot 2-20 from three-point range. She hit three huge threes to completely swing the momentum and game into the Spartans hands.

What’s Next?

The Lady Lions will travel to College Park, Maryland, to take on the Terrapins at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 12, at the XFINITY Center. The game will be streamed on Peacock.