July 29, 2013
2013-14 Women's Basketball Schedule
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UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. - The Penn State Lady Lion basketball team rounded out their non-conference schedule with the announcement of the Junkanoo Jam pairings. Penn State will be in the Freeport Division and open the tournament in Grand Bahama against Oregon State on Friday, Nov. 29 at 1 p.m. (ET). The Lady Lions will then face either Florida or Illinois State in the championship/consolation round on Saturday, Nov. 30.
This is the second trip to the Junkanoo Jam in program history. The Lady Lions won the title in 2003 with wins over George Washington and Kansas State. Tanisha Wright was selected as the tournament's MVP.
The Junkanoo Jam caps off an already stellar non-conference slate for the Lady Lions that features nine teams (4 NCAA, 4 WNIT, 4 WCBI) that participated in postseason play last year.
The Lady Lions, who are currently riding a 20-game home court winning streak, will open the schedule with a four-game home stand beginning against St. Francis (Pa.) on Friday, Nov. 8 and Fordham on Sunday, Nov. 10. Penn State will raise its 2013 Big Ten Championship banner to the rafters against the Red Flash.
Penn State continues in the friendly confines of the Bryce Jordan Center when the Lady Lions host eight-time National Champion Connecticut on Sunday, Nov. 17, before closing out their home stand against Bucknell on Wednesday, Nov. 20. Following the Junkanoo Jam, the Big Ten/ACC Challenge will await the Lady Lions when they host Coquese Washington's alma mater Notre Dame on Wednesday, Dec. 4.
Penn State hits the road for a pair of games at Georgetown (Sun., Dec. 8) and at South Dakota State on (Wed., Dec. 11), before coming back to the BJC to top off the non-conference schedule with a three-game home string. The home stand begins when 2011 NCAA Champion Texas A&M visits on Sunday, Dec. 15. This is the Aggie's first-ever trip to Penn State. The Lady Lions opened the home-and-home series with a 63-58 win in College Station on Nov. 14, 2012.
The non-conference slate concludes as Alcorn State comes to the Bryce Jordan Center on Sunday, Dec. 22, followed by a visit from Hartford on Sunday, Dec. 29.
The Big Ten Conference schedule will be announced at a later date. Time and television arrangements will also be announced at a later date.
Lady Lion Basketball season tickets can be reserved by calling 1-800-NITTANY.
The Lady Lions won their second-straight Big Ten regular season title with a 26-6 overall record and 14-2 mark in conference play last season. Guided by the two-time Big Ten Coach of the Year in Washington, Penn State will return the 2013 Big Ten Player of the Year Maggie Lucas (Narberth, Pa.) and Big Ten All-Defensive team choice Dara Taylor (Wilmington, Del.). The Lady Lions will also add an eight-player recruiting class that ranks in the Top 10 in the country.
Lucas is coming off of an outstanding junior campaign that saw her take home top conference honors, as well as All-America accolades from the WBCA, Associated Press, USBWA and Full Court. The Narberth, Pa. native averaged 20.1 points per game to finish third in the Big Ten and 16th nationally. Lucas also finished in the Top 10 in the country in three-point field goal percentage (4th- .462) and free throw percentage (9th - 90.0) and was 11th in three-point field goals made (3.06).
Taylor made an immediate impact for the Lady Lions, finishing second on the team and fifth in the Big Ten in steals with a 2.4 per game average. She also finished in the Top 10 in the league in assists (10th - 3.4) and assist-to-turnover ratio (9th - 1.2). She also contributed 7.0 points and 3.2 rebounds per game.
The Lady Lions will add eight new faces on the roster next season in guards Lindsey Spann (Laurel, Md.) and Keke Sevillian (Goodrich, Mich.), swing players Jenny DeGraaf (Springboro, Ohio), Kaliyah Mitchell (Stone Mountain, Ga.), Peyton Whitted (Suwanee, Ga.), forward Alex Harris (Lorain, Ohio) and center Infiniti Alston (Baltimore, Md.), who signed National Letters of Intent in November, as well as Sierra Moore (York, Pa.), who will sit out the 2013-14 season due to NCAA transfer rules.
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