Penn State women’s basketball (0-2) fell to Cincinnati (2-0) on Saturday afternoon in Cincinnati behind Caliyah DeVillasee’s 13-point performance.

Devyn Quigley led the charge for the Lady Lions with 19 points and 32 minutes.

How It Happened

After a back-and-forth opening 45 seconds, Caliyah DeVillasee opened the scoring for Cincinnati. The Bearcats added another bucket from inside the arc and two pairs of free throws to take an 8-0 lead before the Lady Lions were able to find back-to-back buckets from Devyn Quigley to cut the deficit to four.

After back-to-back 3-point jumpers from Joya Crawford, the Lady Lions were forced to call a timeout down 16-8. After an offensive foul on Petra Bozan and a shot clock violation on the Bearcats, a foul on Quigley sent Marta Fernandez to the line. She split the free throws and gave Cincinnati a 17-8 lead. 

In the last 30 seconds of the first quarter, the Lady Lions looked to close the gap, but after a foul and an out-of-bounds ball against them, the frame ended with the Bearcats leading 22-11.

The first bucket of the second quarter came with 8:09 left and was by Naomi Benson for the Bearcats.

After a foul by Sahnya Jah, Ava Black went to the free throw line. She split the free throws. Jah was quick to respond with a 3-pointer on the other end.

The Lady Lions responded with a hookshot jumper from Bozan and an offensive-rebounded layup from Quigley before Jayden Jones responded for the Bearcats, giving Cincinnati a 29-16 lead.

At the media timeout with 4:47 left in the second quarter, the Lady Lions trailed 31-17 after a driving layup from DeVillasee after a turnover from Cristen Carter. 

After a 3-point jumper from Crawford, Tanisha Wright was forced to call a 30-second timeout to talk things over with her team. An offensive foul on Carter set Alexander up for a driving layup to take a 38-17 lead. 

After a missed jumper by Quickley with 1:16 left in the half, the Lady Lions were one of their last seven on field goals.

With 20 seconds left in the first half, Durley went to the line for the Lady Lions. She split the pair of foul shots.

As time expired, the Lady Lions went into the break down by 20 with the Bearcats leading 40-20. 

Out of halftime, Cincinnati started on a 4-0 run backed by DeVillasee and Alexander 2-pointers, both off turnovers by Black and Bozan. Enjulina Gonzalez was able to score the first bucket for the Lady Lions of the third quarter. 

After a foul on Jah, Gonzalez split a pair of free throws at the line. A pair of missed shots from Jaidyn Gunter and Naomi Benson led to a shooting foul on Bozan.

Out of the media timeout, Cincinnati went on a 9-0 scoring run over the next 2:58 before a foul called on Jones put Gonzalez at the line. She split a pair of free throws to cut the lead to 25, down 55-30. 

In the last 50 seconds of the third quarter, Black made a pair of free throws after a shooting foul on Dee, but Crawford responded back for the Bearcats to take a 60-34 lead. Dee made a fast-break buzzer-beater layup to end the third quarter up 62-34.

Carter opened the fourth quarter for the Nittany Lions with her first bucket of the game before Kamrah Banks added a fast-break score off a turnover, going on a 4-0 scoring run and forcing Cincinnati to call a 30-second timeout. 

A pair of free throws by Quigley cut the Bearcat lead to 20 with five minutes remaining. After a missed jumper by Jones, both teams headed to their benches for the media timeout. 

Out of the media timeout, Quigley made a turnaround jumper in the paint before Cincinnati made a second-chance layup by Mary Carden, followed by a 3-point jumper from Quigley.

With one minute remaining in the game, Reagan Jackson tallied her first points of the game with a 3-point jumper for the Bearcats before an offensive foul on Garcia resulted in a turnover, where the Bearcats held the ball to take a shot clock turnover.

With 3.3 seconds remaining in the game, Gonzalez dribbled it out for the Lady Lions as time expired.

Takeaways

• The Lady Lions were plagued with shooting troubles, only shooting 39% from the field and 10% from behind the arc.
• Devyn Quigley was the star player for the Lady Lions. She scored 19 points, shooting 44% from inside the arc.
• Cincinnati outshot Penn State in every quarter except the fourth, where the Lady Lions outshot the Bearcats 19-4.
• Cincinnati was able to hold the Lady Lions to just nine points in the second quarter and 20 in the first half.

What’s Next?

The Lady Lions will stay in the Buckeye state and travel to Dayton to face the Dayton Flyers at 7 p.m. on Monday, November 9. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ for folks to watch from home.

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