Penn State women’s basketball (9-17, 2-13 Big Ten) held on to defeat Northwestern (8-17, 2-12 Big Ten) 81 – 71 in the annual “Pink Zone” game Sunday afternoon.

The Lady Lions nearly squandered a 20-point lead, but Kiyomi McMiller’s 32 points led Penn State to secure its second Big Ten win of the season.

How It Happened

With Rec Hall dressed in pink, the Lady Lions would come out of the gates red hot. A Penn State defensive stand to start was followed by a fancy scoop layup by Tèa Clèante over a Northwestern defender.

The Wildcats would answer with an early three, but Penn State quickly responded with a flurry of buckets. Moriah Murray would see a triple of her own, Gracie Merkle would clean up scraps off the glass with a putback layup, and Kiyomi McMillar would pull from deep and hit nothing but net to notch Penn State an early 10-3 lead.

Both teams would then see out sloppy possessions, with just a tip-in from Northwestern and Merkle landing one at the stripe. The Wildcats would hit from behind the arc, but yet another scrappy possession would see a Clèante steal and a McMillar fast break layup to put the score at 13-8 going into the first media timeout.

Following the timeout, a well-worked Nittany Lion possession saw Merkle take home another inside the area, and Penn State would force yet another Wildcat turnover, with Vitória Santana spotting up behind the arc, putting Penn State up 10 early.

Northwestern wouldn’t go away that easily, hooking a shot home, but the Lions were relentless; another Clèante steal would see yet another easy layup for McMillar. Northwestern only hit one at the line to close the quarter at 22-13 Penn State.

Feisty possessions would start the second, as it wasn’t until 8:25 when Murray would spark a three, and Merkle would show off her post work to send Northwestern into an early timeout with the Lady Lions ahead 27-13.

McMillar would come out of the timeout with fancy handles through the lane before rolling through a layup. Numerous shaky possessions would end with Amaya Evans at the line, where she took home both. Yet another Moriah Murray three would seemingly be erased as fouls would begin to pile up for Penn State. With an and-one followed by back-to-back trips to the line for Grace Sullivan, Northwestern would pull the score back to 34-20 with 4:03 remaining in the quarter.

The game would only see two points traded until a Northwestern bucket at the buzzer, which was called off, ending the half at 36-22, Penn State.

Kiyomi McMillar would start the half with back-to-back steals, both resulting in Merkle taking home four points in the paint. McMillar would then take one in herself, flushing home a layup to put the Lady Lions up 42-22, their first 20-point lead in Big Ten play.

The Wildcats then applied full-court pressure and exchanged layups with Penn State before converting an and-one. Merkle fought for three offensive rebounds on the next possession and finally scored on the inside. A three-pointer from Clèante pushed the lead back to 20. Northwestern would respond this time with a quick scoring run, forcing Penn State to call a timeout as the Wildcats closed the gap to 49-37 with 4:04 left in the third quarter.

Northwestern would continue to chip away at the deficit, taking advantage of cheap Nittany Lion fouls and possessions to pull within single digits. But McMillar took over late, converting an and-one jumper, then responding to a late Northwestern three with a steal, quick layup, and another mid-range jumper to keep the Lady Lions ahead 58-49 with 10 to go.

The Big Ten foes would trade layups to open the fourth before a costly Penn State backcourt violation led to a wide-open Northwestern three. A McMillar basket would not be enough to stop the onslaught as another triple from the Wildcats trimmed the Lady Lions’ lead to five with 7:29 remaining.

The Wildcats would continue to bite, before Moriah Murray would bring Rec Hall back to life with a huge triple, shortly followed by an Amaya Evans layup to lead us into a media timeout at 68-59.

Following the timeout, with 4:53 left to play, Gracie Merkle would split a pair of free throws, as Northwestern would see a three fall from the top of the key. The Wildcats would continue to capitalize on trips to the line, trimming the deficit to back five with 2:46 remaining.

A quick exchange of baskets from both sides ended with Kiyomi McMillar converting just one of two free throws to put the score at 72-66 with 1:18 left. Northwestern refused to back down, a three-point play from Sullivan cut the deficit to 74-71 with 43 seconds remaining, forcing a Penn State timeout.

McMillar would be sent to the line following the break, knocking down both. A pivotal charge drawn by Clèante sent McMillar back to the line, hitting one before another defensive stand would ice the game to give the Lady Lions their second Big Ten victory on the season with an 81-71 win.

Takeaways

• The Lady Lions were a wall on defense, holding Northwestern to 37% from the field, and seven team steals led to their second Big Ten victory on the season.
• Kiyomi McMiller continued her hot streak, leading the way for Penn State with 32 points. 
• Penn State held on, but another sloppy second half nearly handed the Lady Lions their third straight loss after leading at halftime.
  

What’s Next?

The Lady Lions head back on the road to face Rutgers at 4 p.m. on Saturday, February 21, in Piscataway. The game will be broadcast on Big Ten Plus.