UNIVERSITY PARK — Penn State did what it needed to do to keep its hopes of a bid in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament by winning the last two games of the regular season, including a 90-34 rout of Minnesota at the Bryce Jordan Center on Sunday, March 3. Five Lady Lions who were playing their final home game were honored.
“It was awesome,” said guard Makenna Marisa, the fourth-leading scorer in program history. “I love this team. To go out on senior day and us playing our best basketball and clicking and finding each other, it feels really good.”
After snapping a six-game losing streak with a hard-fought 93-88 victory at Purdue on Wednesday, Feb. 28, the Lady Lions came out and assisted on 28 of their 34 field goals against the Golden Gophers while holding the visitors to just 20% shooting.
“We talked about who we want to be when adversity hit. We weathered the storm,” Lady Lion coach Carolyn Kieger said. “It gives them momentum going into the Big Ten tourney.”
Penn State improved to 18-11 overall and closed the Big Ten regular season schedule with a 9-9 mark. The Lady Lions drew Wisconsin for their conference tournament opener on Thursday, March 7, at Minneapolis’ Target Center. The winner will play Iowa and recently anointed NCAA all-time scoring leader Caitlin Clark on Friday, March 8.
Leilani Kapinus, the only non-senior in the starting lineup, did not miss a shot until the fourth quarter on senior day against Minnesota, scoring a game-high 23 points and pulling down nine rebounds. Ashley Owusu tacked on 15 points, six assists and six rebounds, and Shay Ciezki, who only reached double figures once in the five games before the Purdue contest, cracked double digits for the second game in a row with 14 points. Chanaya Pinto scored 10.
Ten of Penn State’s 11 players scored and nine of them recorded at least one assist.
“We felt super-connected out there. It was just fun,” Kapinus said. “We were just making the right read every time.”
Ciezki’s 3-pointer gave Penn State a 12-point lead by the end of the first quarter. Another 3 by Ciezki made it 33-6 Penn State less than halfway through the second stanza.
The Lady Lions put together an 18-0 run that covered five minutes. Penn State wound up shooting 59.6% and piling up 38 points in the paint.
“They (the last two wins) were huge. We just had to find our identity again,” said Marisa, whose team had won six straight games in January and was getting votes for the Top 25. “We really did that in practices. We were clicking again. We were finding the hot hands and just kind of meshing on the court and running, running with pace. That’s Penn State basketball.”
Penn State ended January with an 80-64 road win against the Golden Gophers. Minnesota’s March 3 loss dropped the team to 5-13 in conference play and 15-14 overall. Brynn Sunden led the Gophers with 10 points.
The 56-point margin was the largest in a Big Ten game in Kieger’s five-year tenure.
“This is the best I’ve seen a team that I’ve coached here at Penn State be focused on the personnel,” Kieger said.
Prior to the contest, Marisa, Owusu, Pinto, Ali Brigham and injured guard Tay Valladay were honored by Lady Lions Basketball.
In their final season as Lady Lions, they keyed the team to its most wins since 2016-17 and its second-most wins since 2013-14.
“They’ve meant so much to this program and where we’re trying to elevate it and take it,” Kieger said. “What a big night for them to go out in that fashion. They’ve left the jersey in a better place than when they got here.”
“This group is amazing,” said Kapinus, a redshirt junior who has been Marisa’s roommate since arriving on campus. “I’m fortunate enough to play with such great players that make it easy.”
It was hard for Marisa to find the words to describe her time at Penn State.
“I’ve learned so much. I’ve become a person I’m proud to be,” Marisa said.
Penn State finished on a 17-11 run to gut out the win at Purdue. Owusu scored 23 points, two coming on a jumper with 5:26 left that gave the Lady Lions the lead for good.
She also had eight rebounds and four assists. Marisa netted 17, Jayla Oden 15 off the bench, Kapinus 14 and Ciezki 10.
Penn State made at least half of its shots in every quarter and finished 51.6% from the floor.
Despite Caitlyn Harper’s 29 points, Purdue dipped to 12-16 overall and 5-12 in the Big Ten.
Penn State will be out to avenge a 69-64 setback on the road when it plays the Badgers. Penn State led that game on Sunday, Feb. 11, by double digits in the first quarter but was victimized by 16.7% shooting in the third.
Now the Lady Lions will have the incentive of trying to extend the careers of their five seniors as long as they can.
“It’s been a great group of leaders, friends and sisters. I love them all. I’m sad this is the last home game,” Kapinus said after the Minnesota game, “but there’s a lot more basketball to play.”
