Lady Lions Open Season Against Towson Friday

PENN STATE VS. TOWSON
Friday, Nov. 14 - noon ET
Bryce Jordan Center | University Park, Pa.
Game Day Information:
Seating Chart Parking Tickets Promotions Directions Bag Policy

GAME DAY LINKS

TV: none

Radio: Penn State Sports Network/WRSC 1390 (State College)

Live Audio: GoPSUsports.com ($)

Live Stream: GoPSUsports.com ($)

Women's Basketball Blog | VIDEO: Towson Preview Interviews

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Gameday Central

Game Notes: Penn State | Towson | Big Ten

Statistics: Penn State | Towson | Big Ten

WNIT: Bracket | WNIT Notes | Game Program

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
PSU		TU
75.1	Scoring Offense	59.2
66.9	Scoring Defense	64.0
+8.2	Scoring Margin	-4.8
.419	Field Goal %	.370
.318	3pt Field Goal %	.265
.773	Free Throw %	.610
43.9	Rebounds	40.3
12.8	Assists	10.3
8.5	Steals	7.4
0.8	Assist-to-Turnover	0.7

* - 2013-14 Statistics

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. - The three-time defending Big Ten Champion Penn State Lady Lions open their 2014-15 campaign on Friday against Towson with a special noon tip in the first round of the Preseason WNIT. Doors open at 11 a.m. for the game and fans can pick up the 2014-15 Penn State Lady Lion schedule posters at the gates.

GIVEAWAY: 2014-15 Penn State Lady Lion schedule posters will be given away at the gates.

BAG POLICY: No backpacks or duffle bags are permitted during varsity athletic events, other athletic and non-athletic events at this venue. No bags or purses larger than 8.5"x11"x6" will be permitted. All other bags will be searched upon entrance to the facility.

WEBSTREAM: There will be a webstream of the game available at www.GoPSUsports.com.

RADIO: The game is on the Penn State Sports Network and WRSC 1390 locally with Jerry Fisher and Julia Trogele calling the action. The audio feed is available at www.GoPSUsports.com.

LAST TIME OUT

• After sitting out last season due to NCAA transfer rules, sophomore Sierra Moore made the most of her debut with the Lady Lions, scoring 15 of their last 25 points in a 75-71 exhibition win over IUP on Nov. 2.
• With the Crimson Hawks leading, 54-50, Moore led the rally with 15 of her team-best 18 points over the final 11:44 of the contest.
• Freshman Lindsey Spann added 14 points and four assists on the day, while sophomore Peyton Whitted had a near double-double with eight points, 10 rebounds and five assists.
• Kaliyah Mitchell also reached double figures for the Lady Lions with 12 points, nine rebounds and three steals.
• Jenny DeGraaf rounded out the double-digit scorers for Penn State with 11 tallies on 4-of-5 shooting from the field, including a pair of makes from long range.

  SCOUTING TOWSON

• The Tigers were 13-17 overall and 7-9 in CAA play a year ago.
• Towson returns three of its top five scorers from last season.
• LaTorri Hines-Allen is the squad's top returning scorer after averaging 14.1 points per game and a team-best 8.4 rebounds per outing.
• Dominique Johnson added 10.3 points and 3.6 assists per game, while Markell Smith chipped in 4.4 points per contest, which was fifth on the team a year ago.

  ALL-TIME VERSUS THE TIGERS

• In the only previous meetings between Penn State and Towson, the Tigers edged the Lady Lions, 64-63, on March 7, 1975 in the EAIAW Mid-Atlantic Tournament in Glassboro, N.J.
• Mag Strittmatter led the Lady Lions in that 1975 contest with a double-double via 25 points and 17 rebounds.
• Penn State is 10-18 all-time against CAA foes.

  PRESEASON WNIT

• The Lady Lions are participating in the Preseason WNIT for the second time in program history.
• Penn State made its first appearance in 2002, finishing second in the tournament after an 88-66 loss at Kansas State in the Championship game.
• With a win over Towson, the Lady Lions will face the winner of the St. Francis (N.Y.)-Albany game on Sunday, Nov. 16 at 2 p.m.
• If Penn State loses to the Tigers, the Lady Lions will host a four-team consolation bracket on Friday, Nov. 21 and Saturday, Nov. 22 at 4:30 and 7 p.m. with Penn State playing the 7 p.m. game each day.

  OPENING SUCCESS

• The Lady Lions have found success in their season openers over the years, posting a 38-12 record since 1965 in the first game of the season.
• Penn State is also 42-8 all-time in home openers, including a 15-3 mark in the Bryce Jordan Center.
• Additionally, Coquese Washington is a perfect 7-0 in the first game of the season since taking the helm of the Lady Lion program for the 2007-08 season.
• In fact, the Lady Lions have started at least 2-0 in each of Washington's seven seasons.

  PRESEASON SIGHTINGS

• Penn State is first among the teams receiving votes in the preseason USA Today Sports Coaches' Poll with 55 points, just five tallies out of the Top 25.
• The Lady Lions were among the teams receiving votes in the preseason Associated Press poll, garnering 43 points to rank third among the teams receiving votes.
• Penn State is also ranked 22nd in the Lindy's preview magazine.
• The Lady Lions are one of six Big Ten teams lists in the magazine's preseason Top 25 (Maryland, Nebraska, Purdue, Michigan State, Iowa).

  TORI EXTRA CURRICULAR

• Senior post player Tori Waldner has shown that she is more than just a basketball player as she competes in the classroom and gives back tirelessly to the community.
• Waldner is currently the president of the Penn State Student-Athlete Advisory Board (SAAB). As part of her duties as SAAB president, she is involved in the community services efforts and creating programming for Penn State student-athletes on topics of diversity and inclusion.
• She is also involved in Penn State Life Link, a program in which State College Area School District special-needs students between the ages of 18 and 21 are given an opportunity to interact with students of their own age in an environment that is socially and academically conducive to continued growth with the hope of future independent living.
• Waldner regularly meets these students for lunch, swims with the students as a physical activity and provides guidance to help them on their road to independence.
• She is also involved in the "It's on Us" initiative- an awareness campaign to help put an end to sexual assault on college campuses.
• As part of her involvement, Waldner was part of a meeting with other universities at the White House.
• Waldner is also stellar in the classroom, collecting two Academic All-Big Ten honors.

  FUN FOUR YEARS

• The Lady Lions have put together quite a four-year run that includes three Big Ten Championships, two NCAA Sweet Sixteen appearances and four NCAA Tournament berths.
• During the last four years, Penn State has also collected 101 wins (25.3 wins per season) and has been ranked for 62 weeks in the Top 25, including 21 weeks in the Top 10.
• Additionally, the Lady Lions have churned out three WNBA Draft Picks, five McDonald's All-Americans, 16 All-Big Ten performers, two Big Ten Players of the Year and one Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, all while posting a 100% Graduation Rate.

  OF NOTE

• Sophomore Kaliyah Mitchell has channeled her inner Maggie Lucas and has connected on her last 14 shots from the free throw line, dating back to Northwestern (Feb. 20, 2014).
• Head coach Coquese Washington has selected senior Tori Waldner, redshirt-sophomore Sierra Moore and redshirt-freshman Lindsey Spann as team captains for the 2014-15 season.
• Sophomore forward Peyton Whitted's father, Kevin, was recently named the head coach of the NBA Developmental League's Westchester Knicks.

  2015 PINK ZONE AT PENN STATE

• The Ninth Annual Pink Zone at Penn State will be held Sunday, March 1 in the Bryce Jordan Center when the Lady Lions take on Wisconsin. The time for the game will be determined later in the season.
• Last year, the Lady Lions donated a record $310,000 to breast cancer causes.
• All totalled, the Lady Lions have donated more than $1.135 million for breast cancer research and awareness in the first eight years.
• This year's fundraising efforts will benefit the Mount Nittany Medical Center, Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute, Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition, the Kay Yow Cancer Fund, J.C. Blair Memorial Hospital and Lewistown Hospital.
• For more information on the Pink Zone at Penn State, visit the official Pink Zone website at www.pennsylvaniapinkzone.org.

  GETTING ON THE COURT

• The Lady Lions may not have any true freshmen on the roster, but there will be a pair of Lady Lions that will don a Penn State uniform for the first time this season after sitting out the 2013-14 campaign.
• Redshirt-sophomore Sierra Moore returns to the court after missing last season due to NCAA Transfer Rules.
• She excelled in high school at Delone Catholic, where she broke the York-Adams Interscholastic Athletic Association (YAIAA) scoring record with 2,595 points.
• Redshirt-freshman Lindsey Spann hits the hardwood after missing last year with a torn ACL.
• She was the 22nd-ranked player by Collegiate Girls Basketball Report out of high school. She averaged 15.9 points, 5.3 assists and 2.4 steals at Good Counsel her senior year.

  TORI'S REJECTING ROLE

• Senior center Tori Waldner is tied for 11th in program history with 89 career blocks entering her senior season.
• She needs three rejections to move into a tie with Bethany Collins (92; 1985-88) for a spot in the Top 10.
• Waldner also needs 11 rejections to become the ninth player in program history with 100 blocked shots.
• She would also be the third Lady Lion in the last three years to reach the 100-block mark, joining Nikki Greene (215; 2010-13) and Talia East (102; 2011-14).

  FRESH FACES

• The Lady Lions have added a pair of transfers to the roster in junior college transfer Dominique Brooks and UConn transfer Brianna Banks.
• Brooks comes to the Lady Lions after a two-year career at Trinity Valley Community College.
• She was efficient from the field at TVCC as she connected on 51.1% of her shots to help the Cardinals to back-to-back NJCAA National Championships.
• Banks will have to sit out the 2014-15 season after transferring from Connecticut.
• She will have one year of eligibility remaining after competing for three seasons at UConn where she won a pair of National Championships.

  THREE McDONALD'S ALL-AMERICANS

• The Lady Lions tout three McDonald's High School All-Americans on their roster this season in Candice Agee, Sierra Moore and Brianna Banks.
• Banks played in the 2011, while Agee and Moore were in the 2012 game.
• Prior to Coquese Washington taking over the reigns, the Lady Lions only had one McDonald's High School All-American in program history.

  LADY LIONS EXCELLING AT THE NEXT LEVEL

• The Lady Lions have found recent success at the professional level, both in the WNBA and overseas.
• Penn State had four players on WNBA rosters last summer, including 10-year veteran Tanisha Wright, second-year player Alex Bentley and rookies Maggie Lucas and Nikki Greene.
• The Lady Lions also tout eight players (Wright, Bentley, Lucas, Greene, Ariel Edwards, Dara Taylor, Talia East, Brianne O'Rourke) playing overseas this fall in Europe and South America.
• Wright, who is playing for Abdullah Gul University in Turkey, just finished her 10th season with the WNBA's Seattle Storm.
• In her tenure with the Storm, Wright has accrued 2,591 points, 1,008 assists and 903 rebounds.
• She is a four-time WNBA All-Defensive first team honoree and helped Seattle to the 2010 WNBA Championship.
• After completing stellar WNBA season with the Connecticut Sun, Bentley is now playing for Tarbes Gespe Bigorre of the LFB in France.
• Bentley accounted for 12.2 points, 3.7 assists and 1.3 steals while starting 30 of 34 games for the Sun.
• Greene completed her rookie season with the WNBA's LA Sparks and is now playing in Israel for the Ramat Hasharon Electra Basketball Club.
• After playing her rookie season with the WNBA's Indianapolis Fever, Lucas has gone to France to play for Arras Pays D'Artois Basket Feminine.
• Lucas accounted for 3.7 points per game and shot .957 from the free throw line in her rookie season with the Fever.
• Edwards is playing with C.B. Bembibre PDM of the LFB in Spain.
• Taylor inked a contract to play with AZS UMCS Lublin of the Basket Liga Kobiet in Poland.
• O'Rourke is playing for Pallacanestro Torino of the Italy-Serie A2 league.
• Since graduating in 2009, O'Rourke has played in Germany and Slovakia in the last five years.

  The 2014-15 Penn State Lady Lion Basketball season is presented by Kish Travel and Kish Insurance. With a win over Towson opening day, the Lady Lions will either face Albany or St. Francis (N.Y.) in the Preseason WNIT second round on Sunday, Nov. 16 at 2 p.m. Should the Lions fall to Towson, they will host a consolation tournament on Friday, Nov. 21 and Saturday, Nov. 22 with doubleheaders each day at 4:30 and 7 p.m. Penn State would play the 7 p.m. game each day.

  Lady Lion Basketball single-game and season tickets are available by calling 1-800-NITTANY. Single-game tickets range from $10-17 for adults and seniors and $5-11 for youth (12 and younger). Season tickets are $105 for adults and $52 for youth (12 and under). Additionally, the Family Season Ticket package, which features two adult tickets and two youth tickets in the family section in section 114L, is $210. There is a $15 handling fee per order on season tickets.

  The PNC Flex Books are $120 and give fans 12 vouchers, 10 that can be redeemed in any combination for Nittany Lion and Lady Lion Basketball tickets throughout the year and two extra vouchers for the Nittany Lions' Coaches Vs. Cancer game and the Lady Lions' Pink Zone game. The Lady Lions also have a pair of mini-plans available this season with the B1G Deal and the Five for the 50th plans. The B1G Deal is a mini-plan that includes the nine Big Ten Conference home games. Tickets for the B1G Deal are $90 for adult sideline, $63 for youth sideline, $63 for adult baseline and $45 for youth baseline tickets. To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Women's Athletics at Penn State, there is a Five for the 50th mini-plan. The plan features a ticket to the following games: South Florida (12/21), Illinois (1/4), Rutgers (1/10), Michigan State (2/11) and Ohio State (2/26). The package is $50 in honor of the 50th anniversary.

  The Lady Lions are on Twitter. Follow sports information contact Kris Petersen (@ladylionsid) and the Lady Lions and coaches (@pennstatewbb) to get the inside scoop. The Lady Lions are also on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pennstateladylions.